Chapter 3

3

M ike changed direction abruptly enough to nearly yank me off my feet. Leaving me no choice but to follow him, my IV stand keeping me upright, we hustled down the hallway and turned another corner.

“What are you doing?” I asked breathlessly.

“Just follow me.” His hard tone left no room for arguing.

Where the stone met at a ninety degree angle, Mike reached out and tapped the bricks. He drew a complicated ward in the air above them and in the next beat, the mortar and stone dissolved.

The opening was just large enough for a person of his stature to walk through.

“Come on.” He urged me forward. “We’ve got to hurry.”

The alarm screeched in my ears and I clenched my jaw against it. “I don’t understand what’s going on?—”

“This is a secret passage from the hospital wing. Baldric, hurry, or else you’re going to slow us down,” Mike hissed over his shoulder.

It took me a hot minute to realize the nurse from the front desk had followed us.

He stood above Mike, topping close to seven feet tall if I had to guess, his limbs longer than ordinary and his eyes a bit too large.

Baldric had to duck to get into the passageway behind us and cobwebs immediately tangled with the silky strands of his strawberry-blonde hair.

“This corridor connects the fae hospital in Eahsea with the castle.” Mike’s whisper echoed oddly when the stones closed in behind us. Fae lights immediately burst to life ahead of us and illuminated the way forward. “Stick close to us, Tavi.”

“We’ll go slow for you,” Baldric added. He held his hands out to keep me from bumping against the walls.

We took our time navigating the tunnels and my head spun with the attempt to keep track of the twists. Time meant nothing here.

The tunnels must run deep beneath the castle and although the hospital wasn’t far, the building wasn’t exactly adjacent. Several times, I tripped on my own feet, my legs struggling to carry me.

Baldric remained close enough to bolster me whenever I needed help and Mike kept hold of my free hand more times than not.

I didn’t trust the dude. Baldric, not Mike. But I had no other choice.

Eventually the tunnel turned a final time and ran into a dead end marked by a steel door. My heart clenched at the sight.

Mike blew out a breath. “The safe room,” he explained. “Mom and a few others should be waiting inside. The escape tunnels are everywhere in case of emergency, and protected by magic.”

I opened my mouth to protest that I’d be able to handle myself, then zipped my lips shut. At least the hospital gown I’d worn in the Claw & Fang ward had been replaced with soft cotton pajama pants and a matching shirt. I wasn’t walking around with a gown and open back, my ass on display for the queen and visiting royalty.

“I can’t hear the alarm anymore,” I whispered.

“It wouldn't be on for no reason. Whatever is happening, we’re going to be safe here, Tavi, trust me.”

Mike spoke with the utter confidence of a fae of his station, and for half a heartbeat I wondered if this change happened while I was sick.

Because the Mike I’d gone to school with at the Fae Academy for Halflings had to utilize a stolen artifact in order to keep up with the rest of us.

He’d given the world a glimpse of him, a small hint of the reality of his situation, but otherwise he’d worn a mask at all times.

I’d gotten to know the real Mike, and although he was an amazing man and a strong fae in his own right, he’d never come across as self-assured without some sort of hesitation.

Now he knocked on the door and flashed me a tight smile before the latches turned on the other side. The steel swung open with a pulse of magic and my eyes widened in surprise at seeing Raelynn gripping the handle.

Her gaze fell on me, her face as bright red as her hair. “Well, well, good to see you’ve finally returned to the land of the living,” she said sharply in her accented tone. “Get her inside, hurry now. Hurry!”

Raelynn didn’t seem to care about speaking informally to the prince.

The moment the three of us made it into the safe room, she closed the door behind us and locked it tightly. There were only a handful of people in the room.

Four guards watched over them, with the queen seated comfortably on a pile of pillows nearby.

“I’m glad to hear you’ll be joining us back in the kitchen soon. We’ve missed your incompetence.” Raelynn fell into step beside me, careful not to jostle the IV stand. “Although I’m sorry to say you’ll no longer be welcome at the breadmaking station. We’ve found another girl who is rather a whiz with the yeast. Still, I’ll be happy to have you back. Despite your troublemaking.”

I grinned. “It’s good to see you.” And much to my surprise, it was good to see Raelynn.

Although the reunion wasn’t enough to get the bubbling nerves out of my veins.

Mike pressed an assuring hand to the small of my back before he shifted over to check on his mother, their heads bent together and their conversation too low to hear.

Besides them and the guards, there were six others in the room and only one of them was familiar, a courtier I’d seen at several balls in the past.

The visiting dignitaries must either be in a different safe room or they’d left sometime during my sickness.

“Captain Hezarwick?” Mike called out. He hadn't left his mother’s side. “What’s the status?”

One of the guards straightened his shoulders at being called upon. “We’re awaiting updates. My men are in the process of securing the palace from all outside threats.” His square chin jutted out. “Once it’s safe to return, Your Highness, you will be the first to know.”

What size threat had set off the alarms? It had to be big, because I’d never heard them go off before.

Mike’s quick thinking had got me to this safe place but how long would we have to stay?

The space was large enough to house double the number of people who were present, and a quick glance around showed all the comforts of the castle overhead.

Two small doors were sunk into the stone walls. One of them probably led to a bathroom, and if I had to guess, the other stored enough supplies to keep the monarchy alive through a siege.

And here I stood with my knees clacking together in a room full of people who wouldn’t hesitate to cut off my head. Except for the queen, and Mike.

Baldric stood at my back and pressed me toward a thick pillow several feet away from the queen. “Come on, Tavi, let’s get you comfortable,” he said in a voice like falling leaves. “It’s no good for you to stand this way, not after exerting yourself.”

Raelynn drifted away as Baldric helped me seat myself on the pillow.

I glanced up at him, a question in my eyes. “You know me?”

“I’ve been assisting you through your recovery.” Baldric bobbed his head. “You can trust me. I understand the delicacy of your situation.”

My chest clenched and I automatically wanted to tell him that I didn’t trust anyone. I couldn’t.

“Sir? We’ve just received communication that they’re unable to locate the threat.” Captain Hezarwick bent his ear to a small garnet-colored stone at the neck of his uniform. He paused, listening, and then said out loud, “They’ve cordoned off the south wing and are proceeding to the west wing as we speak.”

A knot formed in my gut the longer we sat. Several more dispatches came through while we waited, tensed, straining to hear whatever it was the captain heard.

This wasn’t how I wanted the day to go, and although Mike remained perched nearby, the room separating us might as well be a chasm.

I wanted to talk to him. I wanted?—

Suddenly the captain stiffened and the blood drained from his face.

“What’s happening?” Queen Laina asked. “Hezarwick?”

He straightened. “The radios have gone silent.”

A moment later, a large boom rocked outside the steel door and the room shook. I froze, Baldric in a similar state of terror at my side, my hand reaching out for a direwolf who wasn’t there.

A questioning howl rose from right outside and I gasped.

“It’s Noren!” I struggled to my feet in an attempt to get to the door and let the direwolf inside. “He trailed us down here.”

“Whoa, whoa.” Baldric surged to his feet at the same time two of the guards stepped in front of me to block my access to the door.

“We’ve got to let him in,” I argued. “He found his way for a reason.”

Did any of them sense the urgency, the gravity, the same way I did?

My senses tuned in to Noren on the other side of the thick steel, uncaring who got in my way or what they tried to do to me. Several of the guards closed ranks and I felt their glares like a physical rasp against my skin.

“Miss Alderidge? Step away from the door. Immediately.”

I barely heard Hezarwick, the magic protecting the room burning the tips of my fingers.

“Miss? You heard him.”

I craned my head up to meet the eyes of the guard on the left. My hackles rose and who knows what flashed across my face before Mike interrupted, sliding his body between me and the guards.

His green eyes were shining as he shook his head.

“That direwolf is too smart for his own good if he managed to find you all the way here during an emergency. I’m sorry we left him behind. Open the door.”

Mike jerked his head toward the guard, who stared at us for only a moment before he bowed to the prince.

The door was hardly open before Noren pushed his way inside and immediately took up every molecule of air in the room. His massive size made even the cavernous space shrink and several gasps greeted us as I lurched forward and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Thank you for coming for me,” I murmured against his ear. “I’ll never leave you behind again.”

He huffed out a light growl that felt almost like a wolf-y you’d better not .

“Sir, this is highly irregular,” the guard re-locking the door commented. “Especially when the current situation upstairs is unknown.”

“It might be irregular but that beast would have ripped the door down if we hadn’t let him inside,” Hezarwick replied with a groan.

The world narrowed to the two of us as I breathed in the familiar scents of forest and fur, dark things and pagan secrets.

There was something infinitely calming about Noren’s presence and I wondered if it was the product of the bond I’d forced on us when I used my mental manipulation on him.

Even the sliver of guilt I usually felt when I thought about it refused to surface.

It had come down to a matter of his mind or my life, and at that moment it was a last ditch effort on my part. I’d never expected to be able to penetrate the Unseelie spellwork on the direwolf’s mind.

Now that I had, I was forever grateful for his companionship.

I shifted back to look at his familiar snout and dangerous teeth. “Thank you,” I repeated.

He blinked at me, which was as much an answer as anything else.

“It’s a particular worry to me that your father has yet to show up,” Laina spoke from the corner to Mike. “What’s the news on the king?”

One of the guards stood near to her with his posture rigid and his face showing none of the worry I’m sure they all shared.

“I’m more worried about the radio silence.” Mike lifted his gaze to the ceiling as though he could see right through to the world above. “What kind of threat are we facing, and why have the others stopped responding?”

These were rhetorical questions although I noted that Captain Hezarwick opened and shut his mouth, struggling for an answer.

“If he were able to be here, then he would be,” Laina continued staunchly. “Something is wrong. I feel it.”

I shuddered at the thought of having to share these confined quarters with King Tywin, who hated me. The feeling wasn’t really mutual but I’d rather avoid him at all costs.

Queen Laina caught my attention and subtly gestured toward one of the two wooden doors.

“Tavi, please come with us for a moment.” Mike held out a hand for me and I had to break contact with Noren to grab my IV pole. The three of us, wolf included, followed the queen toward the door.

She motioned for the guard to remain on the opposite side as we sidled into a separate chamber. “Michael, if you would be so kind…”

Mike moved into position and closed his eyes. The damping spell started at the floor and rose to encompass the door, keeping whatever we might say inside the private chamber between us.

No one from the outside would be able to hear us until Mike lowered the spell.

The strength of it took me aback. He’d been practicing without me.

This wasn’t, as I’d originally thought, a bathroom. Instead, the chamber had been outfitted as a meeting room with a separate door on the opposite side and several couches facing each other.

“Your father should be here,” Laina began, working her hands.

“He’ll come,” Mike said in the dull silence, picking up on the conversation from before. “I know he’ll come. He’s just…late.”

“I’m not content to wait and see.” Laina shuffled over to the couch and folded herself down on the cushions with much less than her normal grace. “Thus the need for privacy. Tavi, if you’ll keep your…friend…across the room, I’d be grateful. I find he gives me a bit of the creeps.”

When the queen tells you to do something, you do it .

“I’ll stay over here with him.” I found myself reluctant to pry my hand away from Noren’s comforting ruff.

“What are you going to do?” Mike asked his mother.

Laina smoothed out the fabric of her skirt and fixed him with a look that told him not to ask stupid questions. “It’s a simple spell,” she explained regardless. “One of the first they teach young witches. It needs nothing more than my own power and a scrying mirror, which I happen to carry with me at all times.”

The queen drew a small circle of black glass from one of the hidden pockets of her skirt. The gilded frame reflected the dull overhead glow of the fae lights and I saw nothing in the darkness, not even her reflection.

Laina gestured for us both to sit and I nestled against Noren, close enough to watch whatever spell she cast while still keeping a respectful distance.

The two of them huddled together, the family resemblance once again startling me even though it shouldn't.

Sometimes it was too hard to reconcile Michael, the same Mike who’d shared my bed, with the crown prince who would one day follow in the footsteps of his father the king.

“The scrying spell will allow me to catch a glimpse of what’s happening above us,” Laina continued.

She laid the glass out flat on the wooden table between them and held her hands above it, palms faced down.

How quickly had they shepherded her down here? I wondered. My palms went clammy. If anyone caught us?—

The hard knot in my stomach grew tighter as I watched Queen Laina start to chant under her breath. The words were obscured, too strange to my ear for me to make out, and all of them done in an undulating monotone.

The fine hairs on the back of my arms stood to attention and Noren leaned hard against my side, just as rattled as I was.

The air became charged, filling the room with some kind of unfamiliar scent. When I glanced back, images floated above the black mirror and the scene unfolded.

At first we saw empty hallways as the spell sought out whatever target Queen Laina had pinpointed, whether it was the king or the intruder.

And when the slender form hidden in the shadows of the throne room finally clarified, my spine snapped to attention and my breath disintegrated one atom of air at a time.

I knew that woman.

The bottom dropped out from under me.

The witch of Everly Lane had infiltrated the castle.

Hoarder, apocalypse prepper, chain smoker, whatever you wanted to call her—Barbara habitually wore baggy overalls and an old red-and-black flannel shirt.

The material hung from her thin frame as she swept her attention across the throne room.

All three carved thrones were empty.

“Who is that?” Mike leaned in closer to the vision like it might give him a hint at her identity. “Mom?”

“I’ve never seen her before. She’s obviously some sort of magic wielder if she managed to get inside the castle,” Laina mused. “A witch, perhaps?”

A really fucking powerful witch . And somehow she’s managed to rip her way into Faerie. I kept the thought to myself.

“Do you think she put a spell on the guards and that’s why communication stopped?” Mike pushed.

“She’d have to have an army with her to be able to make it past not only the guards but the wards. Wait.” Laina sucked in a breath. “What’s that in her hands?”

Dumbstruck, I stayed silent, my lips trembling and my teeth chattering together to the point where I clenched my jaw to still the movement.

The three of us watched Barbara exit the throne room, heading into the heart of the castle.

No one stood in her way.

None of the guards.

She practically strolled, as casual as a gray-haired psychopath like her could be, down the corridors, inspecting room after room at her leisure.

“I can’t make out what she’s got, but she’s holding something.” Laina leaned even closer.

“Can you zero in on the object?”

Then I heard Mike’s audible gulp.

Out of nowhere, a single guard at last ran straight for Barbara, his sword pointed at her chest and his magic building.

She barely slowed before she lifted the object in her hand. And she never looked at him.

The guard jerked to a halt, and his cheeks suddenly caved in, his skin desiccated and stretched thin over bone as the life drained out of him.

His body fell to the floor seconds later but he kept twitching and writhing. He was still alive yet barely clinging on. Worse, I realized, than death.

I knew exactly what she had.

The Augundae Imperium , the magical artifact designed to siphon power from anyone and store it for the wielder to use. Roughly the size of a Rubik’s cube and made of an amalgam of metals…I never thought I’d see it again.

Not after she’d forced me to steal the object for her and we’d passed it off in the dead of night, my duty to her fulfilled.

Now she used it on the people of this castle.

My gut dropped straight down through the floor.

In horror, we watched the witch climb toward the royal’s chambers. We watched her find the King and the two of them square off against each other.

And we watched Barbara descend like a predator to use the Augundae Imperium on King Tywin.