Chapter 36

Chapter

Thirty-Six

Rose

I paced across the room for the thirty-third time in the last hour as we waited for the time to pass. The witch we'd visited made me nervous. She'd promised to open a portal at the precise time we needed, and I believed that she would, but as for what we'd find on the other side… That I couldn't be sure of.

And my nerves were frayed because of it.

"Stop pacing. We've only got a few minutes more before we go. We both need to be calm and rational to get this done."

"I can't help it. I feel like your friend wasn't completely honest with us. I know you think you can trust her, but I'm having a hard time ignoring the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach."

"Hmmm," he hummed absently as I turned to make another pass across the room. If he wasn't going to take this seriously...

"I hope you aren't planning something stupid like finding a way to leave me behind. I'm ready to go and I even have my knives." I patted my sides where they were planted all over my body. What I lacked in training, I felt like I made up in determination and perseverance. Not to mention I had a couple of secret weapons up my sleeve. Literally.

"I promised to take you with me because you promised to follow directions. I also don't trust that if this goes sideways somehow, that being here will be any safer for you. If by chance my uncle is expecting us, he will have all his bases covered. Which means I need you at my side where I can see that you are okay.”

"As do we. Have all of our bases covered, I mean. Plus, even if he knows about me, he can't know much more than that. No one here knows much about me at all."

"Corvina recognized you instantly. And if she told him I have a dark fae with me, he will be expecting a warrior and plan accordingly. We are both taking a huge risk."

I crossed to him and took his hand in mine. "If we don't do this together, then there can be no us. Omega or not, I've been hardwired for partnership and nothing else. You can thank my parents for that by the way. You saw them together. Neither left the other's side and I doubt they ever will."

"They were better role models for you than I'd originally thought." He pulled me against him and pressed his nose into my neck, inhaling deeply. It still took me by surprise how much a dragon relied on scent, but it also felt good to be reminded that I wasn't the only one being driven by instinct right now.

Based on my previous patterns, and my projections, we hopefully had another solid eight hours before I'd be crawling all over him again. That was hopefully more than enough time to get this mission done. If not, we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

"I know it didn't seem like it at the moment, but they were good people. I fully believe they kept me in the dark because they had good reason."

"I know," he said, pressing a kiss to my hair. Suddenly the air behind me sizzled and a shot of warmth hit my back. "It's time to go."

I whirled around to see a bright window of light where the door used to be. It seemed safe to say that the portal we needed into the castle had indeed opened. Now I only hoped that it landed us in the right place.

"Ready?" he asked, taking me by the hand, a slight grin splitting his lips just below his mask.

I nodded, swallowing thickly around a new lump in my throat as I followed him once again into an abyss of unknown.

The air crackled with magic and unspoken tension as Magnus and I emerged from the portal, landing in the heart of the ominous castle. We were thrown into pure chaos with people running around us everywhere. Soldiers, women and men in robes, children screaming. It was as if the entire village had been assembled in the King's throne room and left to fend for themselves.

"What's going on?" I screamed, hoping that Magnus could hear me over the chaos.

He shook his head, his lips compressed in a grim line. "I have no idea. There should be no one here right now other than the King and his counsel."

I looked around again at the mass of people, trying to see above their heads to the front of the room. But the melee was too intense. Every couple of seconds, someone new bumped into me, and a couple of times I was nearly knocked to the ground.

"We can't do anything here," I said.

"What?!" Magnus yelled over the din of the crowd. When I caught a glimpse of his face, I saw his dragon's eyes scanning for information. Searching...

"I said, we can't do anything here. I can barely move."

"Agreed. C'mon. And for the love of the Goddess, stay close." Magnus pulled me in the direction of a side door, it being the path of least resistance. “In fact?—"

He pulled the door open and shoved us both through before I could voice my concerns, and we landed face first into a group of soldiers with wicked iron arrows pointed at both of our heads.

"What the fuck?" Magnus roared, shoving me behind him as best he could.

Stone walls towered around us, casting shadows that made it clear there was no path of escape. We were surrounded. Tension knotted my stomach. We had entered the lion's den, and danger lurked in every inch of this room.

"By order of the King, you, Magnus Ferguson Aegrond, have been found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Any last words?"

"What?" I screamed. Our intentions may have not been good, but thus far we'd yet to break any laws.

"Uncle!" he bellowed, ignoring the guards threatening him. We were there to confront the king in person, not the others. It was his uncle who needed to pay for the dark magic he'd wielded against my mate for far too long.

How dare he think it would be this easy to get rid of him—again.

But the castle's walls were seemingly coming alive as more dark shadows emerged, filling the room. It took but a moment for them to surround us at least five deep, leaving us nowhere to go. We were trapped.

The king had tapped into a magic that instinct told me to be wary of, and it killed me that there'd been no time to learn more.

In the midst of the forming darkness, my heart raced. We were outnumbered and overwhelmed by magic so dark I could feel it slithering against my skin.

Magnus's entire body went rigid, and I immediately felt the shimmer of his power surround us both.

"Run!" he roared.

He was going to turn into a dragon right here and rip a dragon sized hole into the side of the castle. The familiar blue light flashed over him, and there wasn't time for me to get away, let alone anywhere for me to go. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed to the Goddess to keep as many people safe in the castle as possible.

The scent of sulfur with undertones of darkness burned my nose. I opened my eyes to Magnus still standing in front of me. No dragon in sight.

"What is going on?" he roared again. Several men charged forward with knives and a battleaxe in their hands, swarming around us. Panic rose swift and hard as I tried to move, but I wasn't fast enough. Magnus shoved me to the ground and attacked. But there were too many. And without his dragon, he was as vulnerable as I was. Knives and arrows were flying above me and I didn't know what to do. My ears buzzed with the rushing of my blood as all the sights and sounds melded together.

Everything moved both incredibly fast and in slow motion.

One hooded soldier after another piled onto Magnus, pinning him down, until the one with the battleaxe swung...

A blood curdling scream tore from my lips as the axe arced through the air, almost ringing in anticipated victory, until it connected expertly with Magnus's neck. Blood rained down from above, splattering on my skin in a hot shower of death as the sharp blade of the weapon sliced true, removed his head from his body, and fell to my feet with a wet thud, eyes open wide, mouth agape.

For many seconds I couldn't move. I couldn’t breathe. Nor could I possibly look away.

I tried to scream, but everything inside me had seized.

By the time the sound broke free, the room erupted in cheers, drowning out my screams, and every other sound my revolting body made. I tried to scoot away in horror, pure desperation driving me to move, but found I was stuck between the mass of legs surrounding me as terror ripped through every vein of my body. Hands grabbed at me as I fought against them, the warm, sticky blood slipping and sliding on and around me.

My brain had gone numb, and my vision was blurring. I couldn't fight, but I had to. Magnus was...

Instinct kicked in. I grabbed two of the knives tucked at my waist and used them to swipe in a frantic, maniacal pattern. I no longer cared who or what I hit. Only that I didn't stop.

I would avenge my mate.

Everyone had to die.

But there was so much blood. Tears burned in my eyes. I made my way to my hands and knees. Unfortunately, more guards swarmed in the room, and I heard someone order me locked up.

"No!" I screamed, my lungs burning with effort. I kicked and bit, using every last burst of energy I possessed as I was yanked to my feet by my arms.

And then it happened.

The world froze momentarily, and then the sensation of it all unraveling ripped through me. The room went dark. This had to be it. I would join Magnus in the darkness. I was dying.

Only the sound of my heart still beating pushed me onward, until I fell on the floor and collapsed into a heap.

"Rose!" someone screamed as feet pounded on the floor in my direction. "Are you all right?"

I looked up, momentarily blinded by a bright light before it cleared and the man standing over me came into focus.

"Magnus?"