Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Zarya saw Arkon tumble into the void, and her world shattered. A roar of pure fury ripped out of her, and she slammed her fists into the earth. Fissures split the ground beneath her as her magic lashed out.

"Zarya! Enough!" her mother’s voice cut through the agony that was flaying her bones. Zarya pulled in the magic as best as she could, and an inhuman growl rolled through her like thunder.

Astrid was pale; blood still dripped from her nose and ears. She crouched down and made Zarya look at her. She knew better than to try and touch her.

"It will be okay. We will get him back. You need to stop now. You need to think," Astrid said, holding a cloth to her nose.

"He just jumped..."

"I know, love. I know. He wasn’t going to let you be taken. He told me as much in the kitchen. He loves you. He couldn’t let them get you," Astrid said. She reached out for her but pulled her hand back. "Now, calm your fear. We need to think of a way to get him back."

Zarya’s despair was a hard lump in her throat. They needed a way to track him, which meant she needed Zahir. She felt about her pockets and pulled out the small notebook that Ezra had given her. It was an enchanted creation that her friend Stella had developed, that allowed two people to send messages to one another. She’d given it to Zarya in case she ever needed anything. Zarya had never really had friends, so she had been carrying the little book around as a nice token. She pulled it free and hurried back into the house to find a pen.

"Mama! Pack a bag. We have to get out of here. Strahil knew our location to portal here which means that Arkadi will know too," Zarya said, not looking up. For once, Astrid didn’t argue with her.

Zarya opened the notebook and with a shaky hand wrote, Need Zahir. Arkon has been taken, and I’m in Norway. Help.

She added a list of co-ordinates of where her mother’s property was and hoped for the best. She paced the kitchen while she waited for a response.

Did Arkon get captured? Or was he still floating in the fetid darkness Strahil had created? Why would he do something so reckless when he knew that they were better at fighting the enemy together?

Zarya’s breath started to choke her, so she grabbed a bottle of vodka from a kitchen cabinet and had a large mouthful. She tasted her tears and ash before the vodka burned it away. She couldn’t cry. She needed to hang onto her rage to keep her from falling in despair.

Fifteen minutes later, instead of a notebook message, two djinn appeared in Zarya’s kitchen.

Zahir’s eyes were wild. "What the fuck happened? You two were meant to be in Kyiv!"

"We were summoned home because my mother is in danger," Zarya said.

"Are there any more of Arkadi’s men here?" Ashirah asked, her hand wrapped around the hilt of a scimitar.

"None that have crossed through my mother’s wards." Zarya quickly told them what had happened in the orchard. "The silly fool just… He grabbed Strahil and hauled him through the portal. I couldn’t stop him! I’m going to murder him when I get my hands on him for doing something so fucking stupid!"

Zahir let out a frustrated sigh. "He was only thinking of protecting you. Love makes us do all kinds of stupid things. We need his family’s blood to track him, like we did with you and Asa’s bones."

"We go to Tiziano," Ashirah said with a firm nod. "He will want Arkon back to give him a thrashing himself."

"Can you transport all of us?" Astrid asked. Zarya hadn’t seen her return while they had been talking.

"Thanks to your brilliant daughter and Arkon’s design of the teleportation spell, we should be able to manage it. Djinn travel through the ether, which humans can’t, but we can use our magic to feed Zarya’s spell to get us all back to Veneto," Zahir explained. He gave her a bow and devastating smile. "It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Zahir, and this is Ashirah."

"I have heard many stories about you for my entire life. The pleasure is mine," Astrid replied and bowed back.

"Do introductions later. We need to go," Zarya said. Every second they wasted was another that Arkon could be in the hands of Strahil. He was more powerful than the bone mage, but Strahil had Asa’s blood and bones. If he used them on Arkon, his magic might mistake them for her and not want to attack back.

Ashirah cupped Zarya’s face with her hands and held on when she struggled. "Look at me, child. Whatever you are thinking right now, don’t do it to yourself. Arkon is a cockroach. The world could blow up tomorrow, and it would be him left standing in the ashes. He will survive, and we will get him back." Zarya nodded. It was the longest speech she had heard Ashirah give.

"Thank you. But don’t call him a cockroach."

Ashirah laughed and kissed her forehead. They all got into position, and Zahir nodded to Zarya. She grabbed her threads of magic and pulled up the teleportation spell around them.

"A thing of beauty," Zahir murmured.

Zarya directed him on what strings to hold and to feed his power into.

"You must visualize where we need to go," she instructed, and they all took a hold of each other’s hands.

Zahir let out a rough laugh. "Tizi is going to love this."

Zarya whispered a prayer to Freya and Odin to protect Arkon as the spell gripped them. It felt different with the djinn magic, but the effect was the same. One moment they were in her mother’s kitchen, the next they were in a vineyard, the grass scorched under their feet from Zahir’s power.

A tall man moved through the vines towards them with a concerned look on his face. Zarya’s breath caught because for a brief moment she thought that it was Arkon. As he drew nearer, she saw that his beard was fuller, and where Arkon was lean, this man was strongly built from working a farm his whole life.

"What has Arkon done now?" he asked, looking them over.

"Well, Tizi, it’s all rather complicated," Zahir began.

Zarya’s magic was spiking again, an erratic, visceral response to being so close to someone that looked so much like her Arkon.

"Breathe, Zarya," Zahir said urgently, even as he, Ashirah, and Astrid backed away from her.

"Arkon is... He tried…" Zarya stammered, her power choking her.

"It’s okay. I got this," Tiziano said and wrapped his big arms around Zarya. She was so shocked that her magic sucked back in. His large, rough hand cupped the back of her head and held onto her. He smelled of wine and earth, and there was a hint of burned sugar that was so close to Arkon’s that she melted into him. Zarya’s magic settled, and she burst into hot tears.

"There we go. Let it out, little one. Whatever mess Arkon is in, we will fix it," Tiziano said, rubbing her back. Zarya didn’t like affection, especially from strangers, but Arkon’s father crashed straight through her defenses like his son did, providing a rock to cling to in the storm of her emotions and despair.

"She hates being touched. This is truly bizarre," Astrid said to Zahir.

"I have practice dealing with volatile children," Tiziano replied, his voice a rumble under Zarya’s ear. "It was the only thing that would stop Arkon from exploding some days."

Tiziano gently let her go and tilted her face up to look at him. He was brown from being in the sun so much, with lines around his eyes from smiling.

"Ah, the Wolf Mage," he said with a fond smile. "I can see why Arkon has gone prematurely gray now."

Zarya sobbed out a laugh in spite of her heart breaking. "He sacrificed himself to save me. We need to find him because they will break him apart."

"He wouldn’t have done that unless he really loved you," his father replied, his hazel eyes twinkling. "I never thought I’d see the day he loved anything more than magic."

"Then he’s a damn fool, and we have to get him back!"

Tiziano brushed the tears off her cheeks. "Arkon is many things, but a fool isn’t one of them." He turned to his other guests. "I’ll start on some food. Zahir? Call in the cavalry. Arkon will need everyone to help him sort out this mess." His eyes hit Astrid, and his smile widened. It was full of cheek, and was the very image of his son. "Mrs. Wolf Mage, I gather?"

"Oh, I’m still a miss," she said with a bright smile. "Call me Astrid. You have beautiful vines. I bet Dionysus himself would be jealous of your skill."

"Thank you, Astrid. Welcome to my home. I’d be happy to take you on a tour around the property once everything is settled," Tiziano replied, his smile a little wider.

Zahir cast his eyes to heaven. "Creator, give me strength. Like father like son. I’ll be back in an hour. Be ready for us." He and Ashirah disappeared with a dusting of bronze power.

Tiziano put his arm around Zarya’s shoulders. "Come on, little mage. Let’s get a glass of wine, and you can tell me all about it."