Chapter 5

Grey

Carrow fit perfectly into my arms. Desire surged through me as I bent to take her lips with mine.

My thoughts blurred even more as she parted her lips, her tongue darting out. I groaned and pulled her closer, careful not to clutch her too hard around the waist. She pressed her form fully against mine and wrapped her arms around my neck, tilting her head to take the kiss deeper.

All thoughts disappeared from my mind as we kissed, making it unnaturally empty.

"Come on," she whispered against my lips, pulling me toward the bed.

I growled and picked her up, wrapping her legs around my waist as I strode around the pool and toward the bed. I stopped next to it, immensely grateful for its presence.

Silviu had put us in the perfect room.

The memory of him tugged hard at my fuzzy thoughts.

Silviu.

We were in his castle, a place to which I'd vowed never to return.

And we were about to drop our guard and have sex.

That didn"t feel…right.

I pulled my lips away from Carrow's, struggling to bring my mind back to the present.

Why were we here?

Lightning struck outside, glowing rose through the tinted glass. The glow highlighted Carrow's features in a way that made her look more beautiful than ever, and it was all I could do not to fall back into her kiss.

I shook my head.

What the hell?

The thought was normal, the place was not.

I set her down, and she reached for me. "Grey. Kiss me."

"No." I gripped her shoulders and shook her gently. "Try to clear your mind."

She blinked, her gaze cloudy. "What do you mean?"

"I think we've been enchanted." I could feel it even now, seeping through my head like a mist, turning my thoughts toward Carrow. I could think of nothing but her.

It wasn't unusual for her to fill my thoughts, but even I had the control not to entirely drop my guard—and my trousers—in the middle of one of my greatest enemy's castles.

She gasped, then rubbed at her temples hard, as if trying to drive the fog away. I pinched the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to focus on our goal.

We were here to see the seer.

Silviu was finding her now.

Or was he?

I looked up at Carrow. "I'm not sure if he's actually arranging a meeting for us."

"Maybe not." She dug into the small pack she'd brought, searching for something. "I think Eve gave me a potion to help combat mental spells."

"A very useful friend to have."

"And she's fun for a night out at the pub." Carrow fumbled in the bag, shaking her head every now and again, clearly trying to keep her wits about her. She pulled out a tiny vial. "This is it."

"Is there enough?"

"I think so. Every vial is a double, she said." Carrow uncorked it and swigged back half, her eyes immediately brightening. Then they widened. "Shit." She shoved the vial at me. "Drink this."

I tossed it back, cringing slightly at the bitter taste. Within seconds, my mind had cleared. The stress and tension returned, and a moment later, the room shifted.

I blinked, taking in the new space. There were no more windows, or furniture, or deep, sparkling pools.

The room was still octagonal, but it was just stone walls and a stone floor. Not even a door.

"He tricked us," I said.

"Meant to keep us busy." She spun in a circle. "It was an impressive enchantment. Where's the exit?"

I strode to a wall, pressing my hand against the stone and trying to feel for any sort of magical signature.

There was nothing.

The stone was dead and cold beneath my palm. I walked around the room, searching for anything that might show us where the door had been hidden.

"Is there even a seer here?" Carrow asked. "Or is she long gone?"

"There should be. The seer is bound to this place, to the magic here. But I don't think Silviu is going to return and take us to a meeting."

"No, I don't think so. Is he angry at you for leaving? Is that why he's locked us up?"

"No doubt he is, but I think he's imprisoned us because he wants you to find his mate."

"Bastard. As if I'd help him now." She shook her head. "No way I'm leading that unsuspecting woman to him if he does stuff like this."

"I think that's wise." I finished my circuit of the room and turned to her. "There's no door that I can find. There must be one, but it's concealed."

She frowned. "Eve's magic should have revealed it."

"It may be hidden by another mechanism. Or it possibly disappeared entirely and was replaced with a wall."

Her face paled. "Or Silviu bricked us in while we were busy kissing."

"We'll find a way out."

She spun around, searching. "Cordelia? Can you come here?"

A moment later, the raccoon appeared in the middle of the room, looking slightly annoyed. I was watching my stories.

I raised my eyebrows at Carrow in query.

"She's become enamored by American soap operas," Carrow said, then looked at the raccoon. "I think you can see this is an emergency."

Cordelia spun around and looked at the room. Well, you've gotten yourself into a pickle.

"Yes. Can you go into the rest of the castle and sneak around? See if you can find the entrance, then return and tell us what wall it's located on?"

Cordelia nodded. Just give me a moment.

She disappeared. While we waited, Carrow dug around in her bag, pulling out two more glass orbs. "Looks like we've got two bombs. I don't know how powerful they are, but I don't think they'd destroy the entire room."

I walked to her and held out a hand. She passed me one of the small glass orbs. Magic vibrated against my palm, prickling and sharp. "They're powerful, but I agree. I don't think they'll collapse the roof on us."

"We just need to know which wall to throw them at."

Cordelia returned a moment later, then tilted her head, appearing to try to get her bearings. Turning, she scurried to a wall and laid a small paw on it. This one. The door is here. I can see it from the outside but not from the inside. It's not normal—more like an outline in the stone. No wood or anything.

"No lock?" I asked.

No.

"Weird." Carrow shrugged. "Shall we try it?"

I looked at the wall, then at Cordelia. "Could you tell how thick it is?"

No. But thick, I think.

I frowned, thinking. "If the bombs are too strong, the explosion will fill this room and kill us. But if they aren't strong enough to destroy the barrier from the inside, we'll have used them up pointlessly."

"What do you suggest?"

I looked at Cordelia. "How far can you throw a ball?"

Cordelia scoffed. Really far.

"Is the hallway long enough that you can stand far away from the door?"

Much longer than this room.

"Okay, good," I said. "Can you return to the hallway and throw this bomb at the door from the outside?"

Cordelia looked between Carrow and me, her gaze on the two bombs we held. If one is good, two is better.

"Like kebabs?" Carrow asked.

Justlike kebabs.

"Okay, then," I said. "Take both. But stay far enough away to avoid the blast. And if they don't fully destroy the door, hopefully it will encourage the guards to check on us."

I can do that. Cordelia held out her little paws for the bombs, and Carrow handed them to her.

She crouched down and met the racoon's eyes. "Be careful, all right?"

Cordelia nodded. Sure thing.

A moment later, Cordelia disappeared.

"Come on." I gripped Carrow's hand and pulled her toward the far wall, away from the door. I moved to shield her, and she shoved at me.

"You don't have to do that," she said.

I looked down at her and just frowned. That hardly deserved a response.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I want to protect you."

She scowled up at me. "Well, I want to protect you, too."

The corner of my mouth tugged up in a smile. "Too bad. I'm bigger."

I stood between her and the door. She tried to move aside, but a deafening explosion rocked the room.

My head rang as I glanced toward the wall where the door was meant to be. It looked normal, the stone totally undamaged.

"Damn it." My voice sounded odd inside my head.

Carrow pulled me back against the wall just as the second explosion hit. It came more loudly than the first, or so I thought. My ears were still ringing, but the blast had made my ribs vibrate.

Dust billowed toward us, and I blinked, squinting. It faded to reveal a hole in the wall right where a door might be, roughly a few meters square.

Cordelia hurtled through the opening, her eyes bright. Guards incoming!

I darted across the room, my hearing gradually returning. As I neared the hole in the wall, I caught sight of a large man stopping right in front of it. I reached through and grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him through the hole.

He shouted and thrashed, and I pulled him all the way into the room, then lifted him up and snapped his neck. Bones popped, and he went limp. I threw him aside.

A second guard climbed through the hole, his hand glowing with green magic. He threw it toward me, and I dodged, barely managing to spin out of the way. It crashed into the wall, sending a painful shockwave of dark magic blasting into me.

I yanked him to me. His palm was beginning to glow again, a second blast powering up. I didn't give him a chance. Instead, I snapped his neck like I had the other and tossed him aside.

Carrow watched me with wide eyes. "That was…"

"A bit much?" Generally, I tried not to kill my opponents. Here, however, there wasn't time to fool around with grappling. We needed answers, and if Silviu found us, we'd have no chance. The guards had made their choice when they'd agreed to work for him. It was Carrow's life or theirs, and the decision was easy for me. I looked out the hole in the wall, searching the hallway beyond. It was empty. I gestured for Carrow to follow. "Come on."

I climbed out of the room and reached back for Carrow. She scrambled out behind me, and Cordelia waved from within the room. Call me if you need me. I have a date with Luke and Laura. They're getting hitched.

She disappeared.

I turned, then headed down the hall, Carrow at my side. We hurried through the dark halls, down staircases and past empty rooms.

Footsteps sounded from up ahead, and I pulled Carrow into a room on my right. It was empty save for a desk and a chair. Not even a single book decorated the place.

We tucked ourselves back against the door, breath held.

The footsteps grew nearer, and I tensed, ready to fight. My skin prickled with awareness, and my breath slowed, my vision sharpening in the way it did when my beast went into stalking mode.

The footsteps passed.

Carrow sagged against me. "Thank God. Let's go."

I leaned out and inspected our surroundings. "It's clear."

We sneaked out into the hall and continued our way to the very depths of the castle. Centuries had passed since I'd been there, but I still recalled every stone of the place. It had haunted my dreams for years after I'd left.

We passed two groups of guards, both of which were easy to take out. Though they had been hired to stop intruders from reaching the seer, no one ever broke into Silviu's castle. No one would dare.

The first group was nearly asleep at their post, propped against the wall where two hallways intersected. They faced away from us, and Carrow leaned close to whisper in my ear, "Don't kill them."

I nodded, though I still wouldn't hesitate if things became dicey. They didn't, though. I used my unnatural speed to race up behind them and knock their heads against the wall. One after the other, they slumped against the stone.

Carrow made quick work of binding the first, and I did the second. Soon, we were on our way. The next group of guards was positioned at an intersection similar to the last pair, but they were more alert. Their gazes snagged with ours as soon as we came into sight. Both were tall men with broad shoulders and dark eyes. Their magic smelled of sulfur. They raised their hands and hurled two blasts down the hallway.

I dove low, Carrow doing the same, and the magic plowed overhead. It scraped along my back, feeling like the cuts of a thousand knives. Agony flared, and my vision nearly went black. It was only through years of training that I stayed on my feet.

After the magic passed, I hurtled toward them, fear for Carrow giving me extra speed. They stumbled back, raising their hands as magic began to glow faintly around their palms. They'd need a few more seconds to charge up fully, and they wouldn't get them.

I lunged for the first, breaking his neck. As I tossed the body aside, pain flared at my shoulder, the distinctive feel of a knife plunging deep.

I spun around.

The other guard had stabbed me. He held the bloody knife in one hand and swung his other fist at my face, but I grabbed his hand and yanked him toward me, spinning him around and cranking his head to the side. His neck popped, and he went limp.

I threw him to the ground and turned to face Carrow, my heart thundering as fear chilled my skin.

She lay on the ground, her back covered in blood. Only then did I realize that my own back was sopping wet. The pain burned, and I knew the wounds wouldn't heal as quickly as they once would have. Maybe not at all.

Whatever was in the guard's magic, it really had cut us deep. Carrow had been unlucky, and the blast that had hit her had been traveling lower. It'd torn her up.

Fear turned my blood to ice as I raced to her, dropping to my knees. My presence seemed to rouse her a bit, and she groaned, trying to push herself upward.

My heart raced, fear like I'd never known filling me. "Don't move."

She hissed and lay still, her cheek pressed to the stone, her skin pale. Red blood coated the ends of her hair.

I grabbed her bag and dug around, searching for a healing draft. They all looked the same, though. I didn't understand Eve's labeling system the way Carrow did.

I raised my wrist to my mouth and bit deep, my fangs piercing the skin. Quickly, I held my wrist under her mouth, cradling her head so that her lips pressed to my skin. "Drink. It will heal you."

I hoped. My blood might be worthless by now, all healing ability gone. But it was worth trying. "Please, Carrow. You must."

It took her a moment, but finally, she did as I commanded. She drew on my wrist, my blood flowing into her. Pleasure shot through me, so inappropriate given the circumstances but impossible not to feel.

It was like the sensation unlocked something inside me, and suddenly, I could smell her blood.

There was so much of it, and the beast inside me roared. Hunger gnawed at my stomach, and my fangs hurt in my mouth. My throat felt parched, and the creature inside me struggled to break free. To fall on Carrow and drink her blood.

No.

I fought it with everything I had, clenching my jaw and turning my head from her. I stopped breathing entirely, letting my lungs burn and my heart pound.

This will pass.

It had to pass.

Slowly, it faded. My head swam. I drew in a shallow breath through my mouth, desperate for air.

I resisted.

The last thing I needed was for the beast to return.

Finally, Carrow withdrew her mouth. She moaned and pushed herself upright. I turned to her, clenching my fists, knowing I couldn't touch her.

More than anything, I wanted to help her up.

But I couldn't risk it. While she was covered in blood, the beast was too close to the surface.

"Are you all right?" I asked. "How do you feel?"

She rubbed a hand over her pale face. "Like hell." Her gaze met mine. "And I'm not sure that worked very well."

Damn it. As I'd feared.

She rose to her knees and turned. Her coat was torn, revealing wounds that gouged the skin of her back, slowly seeping blood. If they'd healed, it hadn't been by much.

"My blood is no longer as effective," I said, concern piercing me. Grief that I could not heal her. "Mortality is creeping up on me. Do you have a healing potion?"

"Yes. And at least now I'm strong enough to find it." She dug into her satchel and removed two small vials. She handed me one. "Here. For your wounds."

I took it, hating that I couldn't heal her. As I drank it down, I felt my wounds heal. I loathed that I could no longer do that on my own, loathed even more that I couldn't heal her.

Quickly, she uncorked the vial and drank.

I stood and stepped backward, my hands clenched into fists as I tried to force my fangs to recede.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "You look…off."

I nodded sharply. "Fine. But keep your distance. I…can't be trusted right now."

"You just tried to save me, though."

"I did, yes. Though I failed. And the beast inside me…he still wants you."

She swallowed hard, her eyes going dark as she nodded. "I understand."

She pulled off her bloody, ruined jacket and moved to throw it aside.

I held out a hand. "No. We can't leave traces of our blood here. Too dangerous. We don't know how Silviu will use it."

"Good point." She shoved it into her bag.

I searched the ground where we'd fallen, looking for signs of our blood. Our clothes seemed to have soaked up most of it, thank fates. There were a few small, quickly drying specks that would be of no use to Silviu.

"Let's keep moving." I turned to head down the hall.

We walked swiftly and silently, passing the bodies of the guards without a second glance. We'd need to be quick to find the seer, but once we had, the magic in the seer's cavern would prevent us from being disturbed.

As we descended a sloped hallway, it grew colder and colder, as if the castle were built into a hill of ice. Carrow shivered. "We're close, aren't we?"

"Yes. Those were the last guards, I believe." I'd never come down here much when I'd lived in the castle, but I was fairly certain.

"It also feels like hell." She rubbed her arms.

She was right, I realized. A prickling sensation raced across my skin. This whole place was foul with dark magic.