29. ~Orpheus~

29

~Orpheus~

Alena was changing.

Settling.

Secure in herself.

Rising beyond what had happened to her.

She was finding the good in the present, focusing on the goodness in others too—the biggest example being my father—that big gentle heart of hers out in full, just like I’d seen from her when we’d first met, before this nightmare of a war had threatened to blacken that for her.

Despite it looking like things had been headed that way for a while, she’d fought against that happening, and she’d come back to herself.

In that way.

In others, though, she was evolving.

She was more sure of herself and her abilities than I’d ever seen from her before.

My father had told me how impressively she’d mastered her special ability, how she’d had to walk a dark line to do so and she’d just done it without a struggle.

She’d also been searching through her mother’s grimoires in a misguided, but sweet effort to save my mom, and she’d possessed confidence that she could perform the spell necessary. While, after Xavier had given me the disturbing details of such a spell, I’d nixed it, as had my father—rather emphatically at that—she’d also come up with a way to expel celestial magic from her. It was a hell of a spell to perform and not long ago, she would have balked at the mere thought of it. But not now. Now she was confident she could perform it, that she could handle it and the extreme power it would take in order to carry it out.

I’d believed in her from the beginning, but seeing her come this far through every fucking nightmare that had come her way… it was something else entirely.

And recognizing that, my faith in her was why I was fighting against my protective instincts when it came to those I loved to not interfere right now.

A few minutes ago, my father and I had both received a notification from the alert we’d set up around Constantine’s cell that there’d been a disturbance, that somebody had gotten too close to the boundary—Talon’s phoenix fire.

I’d been with Obsidian at the time working on some drills using the Illuminex Shields and the second it had happened, he’d teleported right beside me.

We’d headed off together and caught sight of Alena over there outside his cell.

The interference had actually been her clearing a path with her magic so she could open up a dialogue between them through the soundproofed nature of the cell.

“This is too dangerous,” my father spoke, stepping forward to intervene.

I threw out my arm, holding him back. “Give it some time.”

“Orpheus, his manipulative nature—being a master at it, in fact—combined with the evils he visited upon her—”

“I know. I know. But she’s come a long way since the aftermath of it, she’s been working hard, tirelessly even. The least she deserves is our trust.”

“It’s not her whom I don’t trust.”

“Believe me, I get it. She needs this, though. Let it be.”

I could see the struggle all over him to do that. It was the same internal struggle that I was waging.

But he gave a nod and stepped back in line with me.

“A compromise then. I’m becoming fond of them, believe it or not.”

I frowned, wondering what he was getting at, until he quickly showed me with a brief flick of his magic and a familiar incantation—he’d just cast an auditory enhancement spell.

In the next moment, we could clearly hear the conversation taking place.

“Mmm, I’d hoped my first visitor would be you, darling princess.”

“Then you’re even more of a fool than I took you for.”

“A fool? Is that what you tell yourself to take away some of the power I have over you?”

“You have no power over me, no power over anything or anyone now either.”

“No power? Is that why I’m still here in this cell, on your territory? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Elliot still missing his magic? Isn’t my protégé still out there wreaking havoc? And, lastly, but most importantly, don’t you need me so badly that you’ve kept the greatest threat to you alive and protected right here amongst your army?”

“You overestimate your position. You being here is merely a temporary inconvenience.”

He snarled and charged the cell, only to be blown back by the power containing him.

“What’s the matter, almighty hybrid? Struck a nerve, did I?”

“You think you’re above it, think you’re past me, but you’re not. You never will be. I’ll be there in your nightmares, in a sudden touch from your men that you’re not expecting that sets you off and sparks a memory of my hands, my mouth, my cock all over you.”

“Wrong. The only thing memorable about your touch is the unwanted nature of it.”

“Your screams and begging proved otherwise.”

I growled low in my throat and my father grasped my shoulder to both calm and comfort me.

“Under black magic control everything was a falsity. Just like your prowess.”

“You little bitch. I know that’s not true.”

“Why does it matter to you? It was just a manipulation, right? Just a game to get what you wanted? A celestial being to wield as a weapon?”

“You know it was more than that.”

“You wanted me.”

“Do you really think I would have employed the methods that I did if I didn’t? I didn’t need to take it a sexual route, I didn’t need to gently gain your trust at first either. I had enough power to turn you without any of that. You’re special, I told you that. I taught you that.”

“You’re right, I am special. And someone like me could never want someone so beneath them. You’re nothing. You’re certainly not special. In fact, you’re an extremely weak man. You use others to do your bidding like your puppets because you don’t have the stones to do it yourself. You’ve spent more time hiding than anything else. Because you’re not only weak, you’re a coward. I could never want a nobody like you.”

He vamped out and hissed at her with his fangs. “I will break you, whore!”

“Been there, tried that, and failed.”

“Open this cell and we’ll see how you fare this time!”

“You believed in your own press so much that you lost sight of the truth. You are nothing.”

As he roared and continued roaring, completely irate, she stepped up closer, not the least bit afraid or rattled at being so close to him.

“You tried to break me, but you failed. You tried to ruin me and you couldn’t. You made the worst mistake of your life when you made an enemy out of me. You see, I know who I am now. I know my purpose. And now, no matter what you try to do, no matter if Lenora comes for you, I’ll be here to make sure you fall. Enjoy your last few hours wasting away like a useless has-been in this cell.”

He moved to speak, but she flicked her hand, re-establishing the soundproofed nature of the cell, breaking the connection. “I’m done with you.”

With that, she turned on her heel and sauntered away around the edge of the building, taking a covert route toward the central quarters, back to her room.

“Well, then,” my father spoke. “That was certainly something.” He turned to me, facing me head-on. “She’ll make a fine queen one day. The royal bloodline will be secure with her.”

“Uh uh, no royal bloodline talk.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You haven’t considered it?”

“You know I consider everything. She’s too young. She spent a lot of her life in denial about who she really is. She’s just come into herself, but in the most painful way imaginable. When this is all over, she needs to live her life freely, not weighed down by anything, no pressures.”

A broad smile crept across his face. “As you wish.”

“Really? Just like that?”

“If that’s what it takes to ensure her wellbeing and that she remains happily by your side, yes.”

“You really have grown fond of her, haven’t you?”

“That I have.”

“Who knew you were capable of such gentleness and consideration—outside of that toward me anyway?”

He rolled his eyes. “You will perform the union ceremony, though, yes?”

I could hear it in his voice and see the strain all over his face not to issue it as an order.

He was going to so much effort to do what I needed, to make allowances for this unconventional situation by traditional DFR standards. The least we could do was give him this. “Of course.”

“Thank you, son.”

I grasped his arm. “Thank you, Father. Your attitude toward Alena, toward everything lately… it means a great deal to me.”

“I want you content and fulfilled. It is my wish for you.” He gestured at the troops in the distance. “You need to know also just how very proud I am of you, what you’ve accomplished here, what you will continue to, and how far you’ve come.”

“Thank you.”

We were just about to embrace when green smoke erupted, pulling us up short as Marlowe materialized.

He smiled out at me, then addressed my father, “Love, Elliot is awake. It’s time.”

“If we were tracking dark magic, yes, but in my case, it won’t work as efficiently. The greater the distance between me and the store of my magic, the more of an issue it will prove to be if the foundation of the spell isn’t strong,” Elliot was explaining to my father as the two of them worked on the spell to locate his stolen magic wherever the hell it might be.

“Then we employ a blood link, that of your son’s, to assist.”

Elliot nodded at him. “That’s definitely feasible.” He looked out at me as I stood watching them in the lab I’d set up when I’d built this base of operations. Elliot was shuffling back and forth with the aid of a cane, still weak without his magic to facilitate his rapid healing, while his new woman, Vanessa, fussed over the equipment, bringing him exactly what he needed at the precise moment he needed it. She was good, I’d give her that, and already very well-attuned to him. They made a good team.

Strangely, so did he and my father.

Despite their differences, they were bouncing ideas off one another very well and making good progress.

“Where is Xavier?” he asked me.

“With Marlowe. He’s being schooled in the responsibilities of commanding an army.”

His eyes lit up. “Wonderful. When there’s a natural break, send him in. Not until then. I don’t want his progress interrupted. This is good for him.”

“We actually don’t need to bother him. I have a test tube of his blood right here,” Vanessa said, reaching into a gray box with her magic emanating from it and pulling out said test tube. “Left over from our earlier experiments.”

Off his incredulous look, I told him, “She had the foresight to ask me to transport your supplies over here the night we brought you here after the Exemplar battle.”

He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her platinum-blonde curls. “You are truly amazing, my darling.”

“I learned from the best,” she said, nuzzling against him.

When they became all lovey dovey a little too much, my father cleared his throat. “Yes, love is certainly in the air, is it not?”

Vanessa blushed and pulled away from Elliot, moving about the long metal table again.

“Speaking of love being in the air, you appear to be engaged? To your Commander, no less?”

“Are you vying for an invitation to our wedding, El?”

“I’m not already invited?”

My father chuckled. “You’re on the list. Now I’ll add a plus-one, however, in light of this most surprising romantic development.”

Elliot grinned out at him. “I’m honored.” He shifted his weight with his cane, taking on a more serious tone as he told my father, “Speaking of important affairs that will change the shape of much, Abigail put something in place before she died concerning you.”

My father and I exchanged a look and we both tensed.

Please be something positive. Please be something positive.

When Elliot smiled, relief sung through me and I saw my father relax too. “I apologize for the delay, but while we’re in this perpetual state of war and under constant attack, there hasn’t been an opportune moment to see to what she prepared. It’s an official pardon from her and Exemplar as a whole, along with a complete retraction of the ill will inflicted upon you and the Dark Fae Realm, including reparations to be made to your kingdom for what transpired during the Cataclysm. As soon as Constantine, Lenora, and their acolytes have been defeated, the pardon will take effect. All of it will.”

“I appreciate that.”

“It’s what you deserve. And I sincerely hope your relationship with Exemplar can be mended in the coming months.”

“If you remain at the helm, I believe that can be arranged.”

I smiled out at my father. After all these years, he’d finally been vindicated. And soon it would be known to the entire supernatural world too.

They resumed working on the spell to track his magic, until they had something viable to put to writing it.

“We have to assume that the container is protected by Lenora’s celestial magic,” my father pointed out.

Elliot nodded. “Indeed. We’ll require Alena’s blood to ensure we break it.”

“Yes, it will be easier and more timely to break it as soon as we locate it, as opposed to transporting it here. The moment the container is breached, your magic will flood you. No delays.”

“Start writing it and I’ll bring her here,” I told them.

Instead of heading out of the lab and retrieving her that way, I did something I’d been avoiding for too long now because of my hangups and sensitives about her mind having been breached and abused by that maniac, Constantine. Things had shifted now—in her—and I believed she was ready. More than that, the time for treating her all too carefully was over, she deserved better than that. She’d proven that she could handle a great deal. It was about time I returned to treating her that way too, to challenging her and going toe-to-toe with her like I used to.

So, I reached out with my mind, connecting with hers through the depth of our bond.

I pushed carefully so as not to make the first time uncomfortable, as it could be if it was done too harshly.

Fortunately, despite the anti-mind meddling spell I’d protected her with, merely communicating through a mind-link was a separate sort of thing. It was only the act of trying to interfere or mess with her thought processes that it guarded against.

I felt her respond and she opened to me, the link made.

“Wow, you’re actually mind-linking with me!”

“It was about time, don’t you think?”

“Yes. Absolutely. Mmm, I like it, having your voice in my head, so intimately.”

“I like it too, little angel.”

“So, what’s up?”

“They need your blood for the tracking spell in order to break the container which we have to assume is being protected by celestial magic.”

“On my way.”

“Thank you.”

“By the way, did you know that Talon is up in his room working on a business plan for his supernatural orphanage?”

“Yes, I’m aware. He’s making great progress.”

“I don’t think he wants to go back to Electi Academy when it reopens after we defeat the threat out there.”

“I agree. And he doesn’t need to. He’s learned what he needed to for him—control. And he won’t be comfortable going back without me there. How about you?”

“I’ve learned what I needed to as well. The rest is in my mom’s grimoires.”

“Which you’ve already been working through and studying.”

“Exactly. Plus, I’m excited about taking on Obsidian with you and Xavier.”

“Then it’s sorted.”

“I guess it is. Our plans for after this war. I can’t wait.”

“Right there with you. See you in a moment.”

“Love you.”

“Love you more.”

I heard her giggling into the mind-link and it had me chuckling to myself. For someone naturally so free and open, it was a shame that there hadn’t been much of that lately with the nightmare we’d been living through, much of her being carefree. I aimed to change that for her once this was done with. I wanted more of that giggling, I wanted her happy and loving her life.

She deserved that and so much more.

Fuck, we all did.

And soon we’d have it.

Surprising me, she teleported right in within the very next second, beaming out at me, and coming to me while the others were immersed in writing the spell.

I took her in looking as stunning as ever, this time in a pair of black and silver striped bell bottom jeans and a silky black tank embellished with white embroidered flowers. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that bounced with her every step toward me.

When she reached me, I slid my hands to her hips and breathed her in.

She kissed my cheek and nuzzled against me. “I missed you guys this morning.”

“I’m sorry we had to take off before you woke up.”

“It’s okay, I know you all had things to do.”

“And we need you to rest up as much as possible in preparation for this mammoth spell you’re set to perform.”

She eased away. “Speaking of that, there’s something you need to know.”

I tensed at the worry flitting across her face.

In the next moment, she conjured one of her mom’s grimoires.

She levitated it between us, then used a flick of her fingers to flip through the pages. It stopped when it was three quarters through and then I found myself looking at a spell with her handwriting scrawled all over it.

“Let me see,” I murmured, studying the spell with her notes, a lot of the original incantation crossed out.

I stilled when I came across something highly worrying, the thing she was obviously referring to.

I looked out at her. “There’s an inherent danger in you performing the spell, rather than a full celestial being. You could be pulled into the portal itself.”

“When I told Xavier that wasn’t a possibility, I really thought it wasn’t. Until I delved deeper into the spell in preparation for performing it. But the original spell had a Fallen performing it in mind. My human side makes me more vulnerable. And me also being weaker than my mom.”

“You need an anchor.”

She grasped my bicep, urgency spilling from her. “This needs to be done, Orpheus. Despite the danger. We absolutely have to extract my mom’s magic from Lenora.”

“I agree.”

“You do? Just like that?”

“You expected me to bench you, huh?”

“Something like that.”

I grasped her hand on me. “You’ve come a long way, little angel. We all have. And the way we’ll win this war is as one, pulling together in every way.” I lifted a shoulder. “We’ll get you an anchor.”

“That anchor won’t be you.”

We both turned at the sound of my father’s voice.

I looked to see him shaking his head at me. “It could drain you to the brink of death,” he told me. “It won’t be you. Understood?”

“ Brink of death? Well that’s not—”

“I’m serious. No.” He gestured out at Elliot who was listening in and looking our way. “It should be El. Given his age and experience, his power stores are significant, meaning it’s not easy to drain him even under the worst of circumstances and through extreme pressure. A Light magic-wielder anchoring a Nephilim will also be a much smoother match than you or I trying to fill the role, son. Moreover, El has much more familiarity with celestial magic.”

Elliot nodded. “He’s correct.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.”

“When she’s weakened enough, I’ll get up close and break her fucking neck,” he announced. When he saw my intent to argue, he told me in that non-negotiable, firm tone I’d most definitely inherited from him, “The last time you were in her immediate vicinity, she almost killed you. We won’t be recreating those circumstances.”

“She could do the same to you, Father.”

“I don’t want you murdering your own mother. No matter if you’ve come to terms with the notion of it, the act itself will haunt you.”

“Father—”

“Neither of you are doing that,” Alena cut in. “If I’m not going to take a risk by opening that portal without an anchor, I’m certainly not going to allow the two of you to take a similar one by getting up so close to her in the name of putting her down. I’ll need to be covered during the spell, but you’ll do that from a distance only. No close proximity bullshit.”

I eyed my father, seeing his incredulity that he’d just been told off. That just didn’t happen to the almighty Saryan Hart. No one dared. Expecting him to call her on it and then dismiss her comment entirely, I was more than a little surprised when he smiled and told her, “Your concern is touching and most definitely appreciated, Alena. However—”

“I’m sure Marlowe would agree with me.”

Damn.

My father started and pulled up short.

He even did a double take.

And then he turned to me and asked, “Is this what you’re accustomed to now?”

“As if you’re not when it comes to Marlowe.”

His lips quirked. “Loving someone certainly comes with its fair share of challenges.”

“But there’s also nothing else like it in all the realms,” Elliot said, joining us, with Vanessa chuckling over at the lab table at Alena handling two all-powerful Type A personalities like me and my father. He held out a pocketknife, telling Alena, “Best complete this spell to track my magic so everything will be in place.”

She nodded and held out her arm.

Elliot drew a shallow cut and caught a few drops of her blood in a test tube, thanking her for her contribution, before returning to the lab bench.

“Well?” Alena pressed my father and I.

“Agreed, little angel.”

“As you wish,” my father said.

“Good.” She kissed me on the cheek, gave my father and sweet smile, then told us, “Now, I’m going to get in on the training action outside with Marlowe, Xavier, and Talon.”

“I’ll be along shortly. Once this spell is ready to go.”

“Okay, little prince.” With that, she winked at me, then teleported out.

I looked to see my father grinning at me.

“What?”

“ Little prince?”

“Oh, shut up.”

He chuckled, then returned to the lab bench with Elliot and Vanessa.

I was just about to head over there too when a sudden sharp pain shot through my head. A wave of intense dizziness accompanied it and I stumbled in my step.

“Fuck,” I grunted.

I blinked hard, trying to shake it off, but the pain intensified, bringing me to my knees in moments.

I heard my father crying out to me and running over.

“It’s her. She’s here.”

“Lenora is at the pocket dimension now?” Elliot asked, rushing over too.

“Yeah,” I grunted. “She’s breaching my magic.”

I pushed myself back to my feet with a little help from my father.

Time had just run out.