Chapter 25

Barbie

The druid tossed his black mesh net toward me. Once he trapped me, he'd drag me to his lair and deal with me however he wanted. I was his ultimate purpose, but he didn't know that I'd be more than he could chew.

I didn't even struggle to get up to fight. I had to save my strength to fight off the poison in my bloodstream. My core magic was already working on purging the alien poison in me.

So, I'd allow the druid to take me as his trophy, but I vowed that he was done.

"Not so fast, druid!" a powerful voice snarled, and a figure jumped across the space in one leap, slashing through the net before it landed on me, and positioned himself between me and my hunter.

My head still swam, my body raw with pain and numbness at the same time, yet my heart leapt in relief and gratitude.

Killian had reached me again. He'd come!

A second later, I realized it wasn't him but Prince Silas. Of all people, the heir of the House of Shifters had come to defend me in front of thousands.

"You'll not take Barbie, druid," Silas said firmly.

"You should not meddle, Prince Silas," the druid reproached. "She doesn't belong to your house. And since the heir of the House of Chaos isn't here, the academy has every right to step in and deal with a sinner in his house."

The fucker had planned this. They'd planned to take me after luring Killian away.

"Barbie is only temporarily assigned to the House of Chaos," Silas insisted. "She was taken from my house unlawfully. I've been trying to use the legal channels to get Barbie back to my house, since she's a dormant shifter. Some might've called her a chihuahua, but I bet that she's a little wolf. She has claws. Now that Killian isn't even present at the most important event, I'm exacting my right and reclaiming Barbie back to the House of Shifters."

"If I were you, Prince Silas," the druid said as if facing a toddler throwing a tantrum, "I wouldn't take such a creature into my house. Haven't you seen what chaos and unrest and darkness she's brought? Look at her lying at our feet, crumpled on the ground without any dignity. She can never be a potential mate to any of you. Let her go, Highness, I urge you, and let me take this dark creature to where she belongs so she'll never cause harm again."

"Now that's bullshit," Louis called. "And everyone can smell it."

The vampire prince had snuck over to park himself behind the druid at a strategic angle. Rowan and Cade had also come forward, letting out their predatory sides and standing on either side of the shifter prince. The trio formed a barrier between me and the druid.

Their formation illustrated how the princes knew how to work with each other.

"Have you all forgotten what happened to Princess Medea and how this creature burned one of royal blood with her unholy fire?" the druid asked. "Do you think the five kingdoms would just let it slide and there'd be no reckoning for this foul creature?"

So, the kings of the five kingdoms or the Council had plotted to push up the timetable of the first trial and use the druid to do their dirty work to clean house when Killian wasn't around. They'd lured him away, hadn't they?

A dark thought churned in my mind. Maybe I wasn't the Council's target, since I was nobody, but they were showing Killian who really called the shots in the realm by punishing me as collateral damage.

The power struggle in this realm was as real as it was in the human world.

Politics were dirty in every corner of every world.

"Stop calling her creature!" Silas snarled. "She's Barbie, one of the candidates, so treat her as such."

"And Medea was a traitor!" Rowan chimed in coldly. "In case you choose not to remember, she used a forbidden, dark artifact to try to murder Barbie."

"You're infatuated with her," the druid said. "Barbie bewitched you all, including Prince Killian. All the more reason I need to put her away so everyone will be safe."

"Careful, druid," Cade growled. "No one can bewitch us. No one is more powerful than us heirs."

"Barbie isn't just anyone," the druid said. "We all underestimated her. Ever since she came to the realm, chaos, darkness, and death have followed in her wake. The potion was designed not only to weed out the weak but also to keep evil out of the Brides Selection. The crystal ball has never been wrong. You all saw it turn black, showing Barbie's true colors, so she destroyed it. We must remove her while she's incapacitated. It's my duty as one of the Council members to protect the realm."

Despite the druid calling me evil, Cami and Bea had dashed toward me. Cami propped me up against her, and Bea waved her wand in front of my chest, trying to ease my breathing. While feverish—fire burned in my veins and ice clogged my airway—I gazed at them in gratitude.

"Right before Barbie took the drink," Cade drawled, "she said there was a pill at the bottom of her teacup. What did you give her, druid?"

"There was never a pill," the druid said. "That evil girl loves to make a scene."

"Then why did you deny her a new cup of potion?" Cade asked.

"As I said, there's limited potion," the druid said.

"One more cup would be too much?" Silas snorted.

Cade stalked to crouch by me.

"Your Highness." Bea bowed at Cade. "I can tell the potion Barbie took is different than ours. There's something in it! I can still feel the residue of the spells, unlike anything I've encountered or read about in the Book of Shadows."

Cade wielded his wand above my face, chanting in an ancient tongue. Before he even finished it, he stood up abruptly and leveled his wand at the druid. "What the fuck did you give her?"

"He poisoned Barbie?" Louis asked, his eyes on fire. "He dared?"

"What's all this?" Headmistress Ethel had come closer but was careful not to place herself in the potential crossfire between the druid and the princes.

"This is a bad case of trusting everything in one corrupted man's hand!" Silas barked. "We, as heirs of the five houses, should've been informed of this trial ahead of time, and we should've monitored the process to prevent any illegal operations!"

Pucker popped out beside me. I'd sent him to patrol the Veil, for fear of any Shriekers sneaking in while we were stuck in the middle of the ritual.

Barbie! Barbie! he screamed in my ear. I came as soon as I felt your distress. If you can hear me, blink!

Instead of blinking, I started to convulse on the cold marble, like a seizure. The poison was coursing in my every vein, burning too fiercely even after Sy had taken most of it into her and passed out. It spread faster than my dark flame could purge it.

Genetic knowledge sparked in the depths of my memory. The druid had slipped me the Seed of Heaven, and I related the information to my familiar.

Pucker materialized by my side. The crowd stirred and cried out in alarm.

"That's evil Barbie's companion!" the druid shouted. "She summoned him!"

"He's the ghost guardian of the House of Chaos," Cade said, raising his wand to stop the sentinels from charging Pucker. "We've all met him. He's harmless."

Pucker thrust three fingers at the druid. "The druid slipped the Seed of Heaven into Barbie's potion. It was not only illegal. It was shockingly criminal!"

The princes snarled. I could feel fear and fury rolling off them, all for me.

"The Seed of Heaven?" Headmistress Ethel sucked in a breath. "You must be mistaken. It can't be!"

"The Seed was brought from Heaven but grew in Hell," Pucker explained, his expression grim. "Even a tiny drop from it can paralyze a god. The angelic beings once served drinks with a seed in it to the old gods in a feast to take out the competition." He swept two fingers at Headmistress Ethel. "Anyone of lesser power, including you, headmistress, would die instantly at a sip of the potion that Barbie was forced to drink."

Yet I was still here, though crippled. There was no hiding my power anymore.

"Give Barbie the antidote, druid!" Rowan roared, his hands raised, his powerful fae magic at the ready.

"Now!" the other princes demanded, seeing red.

"There's no antidote to the Seed of Heaven," the druid sneered. "The evil incarnate is done!"

"Take Barbie to my house and call the healers," Silas said, never taking his eyes off the druid.

"No one shall take that creature from me!" the druid said. "I'm sick and tired of your meddling, you spoiled brats!" He raised a fist and shouted, "Now!"

A deafening crack boomed across the hall, then glass rained down from the ceiling.

A death squad dropped from the top of the ivory tower, breaking through the skylight.