16. ~Xavier~

16

~Xavier~

“I told you! I fucking told you all!” Tal fumed, stomping up and down the patio as I watched from a shaded spot in the kitchen.

“Take flight, or come inside and discuss this with me. It’s hard to keep calling through the doors.”

“Right. Sorry,” he said. “I’m still not used to this new thing with you,” he said, coming back inside.

I rolled my eyes. “Please, this is a test. You wanted to make sure I wasn’t gonna burst out into the sunlight the first chance I got with the guards my father had stationed around Abigail’s property having been re-deployed to the Dark Fae Realm along with a handful of Exemplar members, including Professor Marlowe.”

They’d been sent there to reinforce the gates and to safeguard the Dark Fae Realm while the King, the Prince, and the Commander of the army were incapacitated, and the army had taken a brutal hit. It had even taken them hours to break through the immobilization spell that Constantine had put on Cassius and the remainder of the army that had survived his brutal attack.

Marlowe was also heading back there to see to that fucker, Taelorn.

Our key to tracking down Constantine and Alena.

There was also a world-wide search on now by Exemplar into tracking their whereabouts, something that had been ramped up now that Constantine’s attacks had ceased. It was also because Abigail had apparently seen Alena with him when she’d headed to the DFR and come back with an unconscious Orpheus and Saryan.

She hadn’t elaborated—at least not in front of us. But suffice to say, whatever she’d seen had been bad enough for her to make things personal for once and to use Exemplar resources for her, when she never usually did that and operated precisely by the book.

We’d know more when Orpheus and Saryan woke up.

It couldn’t come fast enough.

Knowing Alena had been there was eating at me and Talon something fierce.

Knowing she’d been there within reach, out in the fucking open, right there with Ore.

We were desperate for news of her, to know that she was okay, to know that Constantine hadn’t hurt her, to know that there was hope there. With Abigail so tight-lipped it had just served to exacerbate our fear for Alena. All she’d told us was that she was mobile and uninjured. That had been suspiciously specific. Why hadn’t she just said that Alena wasn’t hurt. Did that mean she wasn’t wounded, but Constantine had hurt her in other ways? Had he… touched her?

“Fine, all right?” Tal spoke, pulling me from my troubled thoughts. “Maybe it was a little bit of a test, me making sure. Because I am worried about it, about you, and I’m gonna be for a long while after what happened, what you did.”

I went to him and laid my hands on his shoulders. “I won’t do anything like that again. I swear it to you. What Orpheus did for me… what he showed me… it’s shifted things.”

“You need to see somebody, though, okay? You might feel okay now, but—”

“I know.” I gave his shoulders a squeeze. “I know , brother. My dad has already set me up with somebody.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It’s the same specialist Healer who he saw after we lost my mom, and when he dabbled in black magic in trying to spare me three years ago.”

“Well, good.” He eased away and shoved his hand through his hair. “Really good. That’s one less thing to be freaking out about right now then.” He spun around, yelling, and having yet another outburst as he had been since Ore had left, something that had escalated majorly when Ore had been brought back here unconscious after whatever the fuck had gone down in the DFR. “One thing! As if we didn’t have enough without Orpheus running off into a fucking warzone and getting himself hurt again! I mean, shit!”

“We don’t know what happened yet.”

“We don’t, huh? What else is there to know? He went there and came back fucked-up! Hurt yet again! He obviously went up against Constantine again and got his ass kicked!”

“It wasn’t Constantine,” a familiar voice came from the door before Orpheus walked on in, pulling a purple long sleeve tee over his bare chest, then did up his gray jeans. He’d obviously come down here in a rush.

While I took him in, Tal bolted over to him and threw his arms around him.

“I’m fine. I’m honestly fine,” he assured Tal.

As they pulled apart, Tal slapped his chest. “I warned you and you fucking ignored it and went off half-cocked anyway. And look what happened! You were hurt again!” He tugged at his tight-as-sin black and orange tank. “I can’t… I can’t let you keep doing this! You can’t go up against Constantine again. He’s obviously too powerful, even for the Dark Fae Prince, all right? Please don’t let your ego put you at risk again. You can’t beat him and—”

“I was beating him.”

I frowned as I continued to study him. He seemed… haunted.

“ Was. Exactly. Until he overpowered you,” Tal bit back, his anger escalating all too quickly.

It had Ore and I exchanging a look. This was fast becoming an issue. If he couldn’t pull it back soon—

“Alena showed up at his behest and… intervened.”

Tal and I both went stock-still.

“She attacked you?” I asked.

“She attacked me, she stopped me from putting down Constantine, and then she tortured me.”

“No, no, no,” Tal uttered, shaking his head vehemently.

“He has her under his control. I witnessed him influencing her. There are signs of heavy black magic infection all over her too.” He looked out at me. “She disintegrated my magic. That puts the most powerful dark magic wielders out of the fight, including my father and me. To take them down now, there are only two people in the world who can manage it. Either your father or Abigail Rose herself.”

“ Take them down? We’re not gonna hurt Alena!” Talon cried.

“She’s been corrupted by black magic and by him. To free her from it, nothing can be off the table.”

“No!” he roared. “Fucking no!”

I shook my head discreetly at Orpheus and he got the message and reached out carefully to Talon, telling him, “All right. That will need to be off the table. I’m sorry. I… just seeing her like that, having her hurt me and defend him … it’s in my head.”

“It hurt? Emotionally?”

“Yes, baby bird, it did.”

“I’m sorry, Ore. I’m sorry you had to go through that. But the idea of another one of us being hurt like that, especially sweet Alena, I can’t take it.”

“I know,” he said, stroking his cheek. “I know.” He fingered his jaw. “How about you go take flight for a while, releasing some of the pent-up shit in your system? I promise I won’t go anywhere, I’ll be right here in the house.”

I smiled out at him as he looked over at me. “Flying always makes you feel better, even in the worst of times.”

“Yeah,” he breathed. “Okay, yeah.” He leaned into Ore and brushed his lips over his, then eased away. “Just can’t stand you in pain, brother.”

“I know you can’t, and I’m sorry you had to see it twice now.”

He scrubbed his hand over his head. “This war… all this shit… it’s too much.”

With that, he strode from the kitchen and out onto the patio.

And then he took flight, soaring into the air.

There wasn’t much space with Abigail’s ward up, but it would be just enough for him to do what he needed to.

“It’s his intense abandonment issues,” Ore murmured, watching his flaming wings for a moment. “Losing his parents so tragically and suddenly, and now always so fearful that will be replicated in us, the closest beings to him these days.”

“It is, yeah,” I said sadly, leaning against the island and regarding him. “So what did you want him away to tell me?”

His vibrant-purple eyes dimmed as he revealed, “He’s had her, X. Constantine has… defiled Alena.”

“What?” I choked. “You’re sure?”

He nodded. “I am.”

“Fuck,” I ground out, feeling nauseous. “Against her will like that… it’s… I can’t even.”

“He’s damaging her. In so many ways. Even if we can pull her out, I honestly don’t know what will be left remaining.”

“Of her?”

“And of our bond to her. I caught her attention at one point, but at Constantine’s interference, her recognition and her briefly connecting with me just flitted away.”

“Wait,” I said, hope sparking. “This is good.”

“Good? How?”

I frowned at him. “You weren’t near your father when he was dabbling in black magic?”

“No. He wouldn’t allow it. He forcibly kept me away. I only saw the aftermath.”

“Okay. That’s why you don’t see it for what it really is then.”

“See what exactly?”

“I was near my dad when he went the black magic route three years ago, so I know what the infection looks like up close. The fact that you caught her attention and established a connection, even briefly, is a huge thing. Him interfering demonstrates that even more. He was so worried about the impact it would have on her, on his control over her, that he intervened. Black magic infection at that level consumes and drags the subject into the undertow to such an extent that their thoughts aren’t even their own, especially when being directed by somebody else using the infection to their advantage. But she saw you through that.” As he nodded, taking my words in, I shifted my weight and asked him, “Tell me what else happened. The whole picture.”

He did, recounting every little detail with his usual thoroughness.

When he was done, it took me some time to absorb the weight of it all.

As I started to, something stood out to me in particular.

“You said she had a collar around her neck?”

He nodded.

“Was it studded? Glowing with his magic through said studs too?”

“Yes. You know of it?”

“I do, because once my dad found out about the creation of a bunch of them by some fucked-up coven a few years back, he had Sabre Tech create one of his tech-magic fusions in the form of a key that can remove it, even after it’s been sealed by the owner.”

“It’s reinforcing his brainwashing?”

“In essence. The collar works with black magic to target the mind, to overwhelm it, in fact, and keep the effect there so control can be much easier had. With him already infecting her in… other ways… it shows how strong she is that he needed to employ a device like this as well, that he couldn’t sustain the effects for very long or to enough of a degree. It means she’s fighting it, Orpheus. She’s fucking well fighting him.”

A spark lit his eyes. “Then I have an idea.”

Before he could reveal it to me, a rumbling voice nearing the kitchen took our attention.

“I can’t feel you flexing your magical muscle as you’re so fond of doing being the closeted megalomaniac and prideful wench that you are, but that doesn’t mean you’re not here. Show yourself, Abigail! How dare you bring me here? I told you I’d never set foot in your home again after what happened a few years ago where you made a pass at me, then kicked me out because you couldn’t handle being drawn to an abhorrent dark creature. Remember that? I sure do. It led to years of hatred, didn’t it? Your doing, just like three years ago was all your doing, and look where we’re at now. Answer me and show yourself! And bring me my son, or you’ll rue the day that—”

He rounded the corner, storming into the kitchen and pulling up short as he saw Orpheus and me.

Wow.

He stared between us for several moments of intensity and awkwardness.

“Father, you and Abigail?” Orpheus spoke, finally cutting through the tension.

Saryan held up his hand. “A brief dalliance, believe me. And highly regrettable at that.”

“There’s no residual—”

“Just hatred. That’s all that remains.”

We were relieved to hear it, considering our bond with her daughter.

Saryan went to Orpheus then, studying him intently, and looking him over. He was usually so coolheaded and poised, but I could see how frantic he was with it right now, on making sure his son was truly okay.

“The Nephilim’s damage has healed well.” He frowned then. “Roll up your sleeves.”

“Why?”

“Orpheus, just oblige.”

Ore grunted, then shoved up the sleeves of his long sleeve tee, turning his forearms for his father to see.

“A glamour,” he said, after a few moments. “Admirable try, but you’re dealing with the King of the Dark Fae and I’m your father. I can see what others cannot when it comes to you.”

With a frustrated sigh, Orpheus swept his purple power over his left forearm.

I choked as black veins stretching from the back of his hand all the way up to his inner elbow came into view now it was no longer being concealed by his magic.

“You’re containing it there,” his father said in awe. “I’m extremely impressed. It takes a great deal of strength and fortitude to prevent the spread.”

“Like I’ve said, yet have had to prove a ridiculous amount lately, I’m in control.”

“Yes, that’s definitely apparent.”

“Extraordinary,” I breathed.

Saryan smiled. “You’re truly coming into your own.” He took his left hand. “No need to suffer unduly, however.”

In the next second, he tightened his grip to the point of painful pressure, then his silver power glowed at the point of contact.

“The strain will become painful if you bear it for too long.”

Orpheus grunted and stared at what his father was doing.

“I know the sensation is unsettling. It’s akin to someone siphoning you. Not to worry, it won’t be but a moment longer.”

I watched the black veins move toward Saryan’s silver power.

They sped up, slinking over there until they crossed through to his hand, moving across his skin—his blood.

He gritted his teeth and then released Orpheus and the veins traveled all the way up his arm to his neck, then disappeared into his skin.

He staggered back a step, his eyes blackening for a couple of moments, before they then returned to their natural state, and he sucked in a breath, and basically just shook it off.

Seriously? Only the Dark Fae King.

“Father, are you all right?” Orpheus asked, worriedly.

“Fine. Just fine,” he breathed.

“Father—” Orpheus started to protest. Rightfully so, considering we’d just watched him ingest black magic and fully take it into himself, not hold it at bay like Orpheus had been doing to protect against dark and highly-dangerous ramifications.

“We have much more important matters to discuss at present,” Saryan insisted. “For instance, I’m sure you’re just itching to discuss the Orb of Vorlav.”

“Even my dad wasn’t aware of its location,” I told him.

Saryan nodded. “When it comes to celestial objects present here on earth, there’s an agreement among us most powerful beings and those in positions of influence that only two of us can know of the location of each.”

“A protective protocol,” Orpheus commented.

“Precisely, son.” He looked at me. “I assume, given your upbringing and your father’s thorough tutelage, that you’re aware of what the Orb can bring forth?”

“Something I would have also been aware of if you hadn’t sealed it in secrecy,” Orpheus said.

Saryan eyed him. “You feel you could have protected it if you’d known?”

“Highly likely.”

“No. It would have made you a target. What befell me would have also befallen you and I— argh.” He grimaced and staggered, slapping his hand to the wall to steady himself.

“Father, what is it?” Orpheus cried, rushing to him and supporting his weight.

I joined him, assisting with my strength to hold him up, his weakening body becoming dead weight.

“You need to rest longer. It’s only been a few hours. Let’s get you back to bed,” Orpheus said.

“In the home of Abigail Rose? I think not. Waking up here once, earlier, was more than enough.”

“She’s rarely even here, just to pop in every now and then,” I told him.

“He’s right. And beggars can’t be choosers, Father. You need rest and if you don’t take it, I’ll make it so.”

Their eyes locked, two hardcore alphas doing battle silently.

To my utter surprise, Saryan smirked—a smirk that Orpheus had absolutely inherited. “As you wish.”

“Good.” He turned to me. “I’ll settle him upstairs. Keep an eye on Tal.”

“You’ve got it.”

With that, Orpheus teleported Saryan back to one of the spare rooms.