Chapter 8

8

The Night Rose Order

When the mageworld of Pegasus had fallen two years ago, its people had scattered to secret worlds hidden behind secret portals. One of those groups had formed the Night Rose Order. I’d heard a few things about the Night Rose Order. They sold fake magical remedies to the gullible and the desperate. They were pretty high profile for an organization of rogue mages.

“Are you part of the Night Rose Order?” I asked Jason as I followed him through the Red Woods of Zephyr, a mage world. He’d told me we’d find the portal to the Night Rose Order here.

“No,” he said. “Eclipse is my world.”

“Interesting name.”

“So is Phoenix Investigations,” he noted.

The name of my and Father’s PI agency wasn’t an accident. It was about rising from the ashes. Whereas Jason’s world ‘Eclipse’ conjured up images of hiding in the shadows—and attacking from the shadows too.

“Do you trust the Night Rose Order?” I asked Jason.

“Not entirely. But they will not betray us.”

“I’ve read about them. How they treat you depends largely on two things: how much you can pay them and whether you’ve managed to get on their good side. And there seems to be a strong correlation between how much you can pay them and whether you end up on their good side.”

“Yes,” agreed Jason. “But I am not linked to them by money. I am linked by blood. My cousin Braeden is their leader.”

I’d always wondered who was running the show, but I’d never gone looking for the Night Rose Order. The galaxy was full of mysteries, but there wasn’t much money in solving most of them.

“Are you and Braeden still close?” I asked.

“No.”

Magic rippled through the air like a released rubber band, and suddenly we were surrounded by four mages. Their vibrant outfits, a hodgepodge of colorful cloths, popped out against the dark red bark of the trees. The members of the Night Rose Order could be easily identified by two things: the rich jewel tones of their clothing and the enormous tattoos on their faces. The most subdued of the tattoos represented here covered half of the woman’s face. The more elaborate ones were tattoos painted on both sides. And the most ostentatious of them all spread down the man’s neck, spilling onto his chest and shoulders.

“Magus,” said one of the mages, using Jason’s power name.

He had shoulder-length snow-white hair and eyes nearly as dark as Jason’s. The man’s fitted shirt and pants were deep purple splashed with accents of sunshine-gold. Around his forehead, he’d tied a matching strand of cloth. A thorny vine tattoo followed the line of his left jaw, and black eyeliner was drawn around his eyes—or, as I suspected, tattooed around his eyes.

“Fascinating,” I said, looking at his tattoos.

“I am Phase, a knight of the Night Rose Order,” declared the white-haired mage. In his hand, he held a Serenity sword. Sleek and slender with an eighty centimeter blade that was sharp enough to slice through nearly anything, the Serenity was the preferred sword of several mage kingdoms, including Pegasus. “Do you seek the services of our order?”

Before I could reply, he continued the sales pitch. “The Night Rose Order is an independent order of mages. We provide a number of magical solutions to countless uncomfortable ailments that afflict the galaxy’s citizens. Flus, plagues, infections—”

“A heavy wallet?” I asked.

One of the mages behind Phase let out a strangled cough designed to cover a laugh.

Phase pretended to look offended by my snipe, but his lip twitched. He was amused too. “Who are you?”

I gave him my power name. “Oracle.”

The man’s perfect brows lifted. “The Elite Prophet?”

“Yes.”

Calculation glinted in his eyes.

“I need to see Braeden,” Jason declared.

Phase let out a heavy sigh. “Come with me.” He waved us forward, then pivoted on his heel and walked toward a giant redwood. He disappeared into a portal before he hit the trunk.

“Enter ‘Silver Lake’ into your portal keys,” the mage with the seashell tattoo told us.

Jason and I did as he said and walked toward the redwood. I felt the familiar jolt of a portal jump, then we were suddenly standing in a rainy field. Bathing pools lay between us and a silver lake. There were several dozen of them, each hole just large enough to fit one person comfortably—two if they really squeezed in. Narrow streams of water connected groups of pools together.

The bathing pools were empty right now, thanks to the spectacular thunderstorm raging above. Rain pattered down on the tiny pools—and the dozens of wood and brick cabins. Lightning flashed across the sky.

We ran after Phase, following him to the nearest cabin. It wasn’t a long run, but we were soaked to the bone by the time we were safely inside. Braeden rose from his wicker sofa, his catlike honey-yellow eyes dancing with amusement as he watched us drip water all over his floor. Phase bowed to him, then left the cabin.

Braeden was nearly as tall as Jason—and built like a wildcat. He had eggplant-black hair that fell to his shoulders. On his sun-bronzed skin, drawn in bright tangerine orange and jet black ink, was a tattoo in the shape of a tiger’s paw. It covered most of one side of his face. That hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen him.

“Hello, Jason,” Braeden said, holding out his arms. “What do we have here?” Tiny golden sparks twinkled in his eyes as he met mine, and a wide smile broke out on his lips. “Terra Cross? It’s been ages. I can’t even remember the last time we saw each other.”

“Two years ago on Pegasus.” He’d tried to shoot me in the head.

“Ah, yes.” Braeden smiled pleasantly. I could see in his eyes that he remembered that day just as clearly as I did. “Well, it’s nice to see you and Jason have rekindled your former relationship.”

“We’re working together,” Jason said coolly.

“Of course. How very…professional of you,” Braeden said. He sounded disappointed. Or perhaps bored. “My fiancée will be around shortly. She is very interested in meeting both of you.”

As if on cue, the front door swung open, and a woman hurried inside. Lightning flashed behind her, lighting her up. Her hair, which fell loosely past her hips, was as black as the abyss. Her eyes were pale blue. Her tattoo was the most colorful one that I’d ever seen: a red-black butterfly with eyes on the wings looped in flowering vines of green, purple, and pink gemstone tones, one wing along each side of her face. She wore a matching form-fitting dress with a short skirt of colorful fabric strands.

“I would like you all to meet Delilah,” Braeden said as she closed the door behind her.

Delilah stopped beside him, giving Braeden her hand—and us a warm smile. “I’m so glad to finally meet you.” Her gaze shifted to me. “Especially you.”

“You’re a Prophet,” I realized. Her resonance was heavy with the burden of someone who’d glimpsed into the future.

“Yes. And you’re the Elite Prophet.”

“Yes.”

“And the madness?” she asked me.

“Still at bay,” I said, thinking of the headband in my safe. When Aaron’s job was done, it would be mine again. It would help me calm the turbulent waves of my mind.

“But you fear the gift.”

“A little,” I admitted. “The foresights are growing stronger. Someday they might drag me under.”

As the power of Prophecy had done to so many Prophets. It was an unwieldy power, a power difficult to control and easy to lose yourself in. That was why so many of us went mad—why so many of us were afraid to use our gift.

Delilah nodded. “I understand. I once battled the madness too, but I’ve been cured.”

“What is this cure?”

Her gaze flickered to Braeden before returning to me. “Love.”

“Do you have that in a bottle I can drink?”

Delilah chuckled softly. “You need to ground yourself through your connections to others. Actually, there is a potion that will strengthen those connections. Synergy. That is the cure. Synergy will give you an anchor so the madness cannot drag you away.”

I’d heard of Synergy. Years ago, the mad mage scientist Vib had used it to create his Menagerie, a group of magic-linked mages he’d called his children.

“What do you have to do with Vib?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Braeden said. “We are merely using the same mythology. Vib turned to external magic, to fairy venom. But we aren’t gaining our power from the outside. It is all within. Inside of all mages, waiting to come out. We just need a little help.” He intertwined his fingers with Delilah’s. “Instead of magical accessories, we use our bond to each other. That’s how we boost our own magic.”

“By using potions?” I asked.

“The potion ignites the connection, but it cannot give you what you do not have,” he explained. “You must have a connection to the person to experience Synergy.”

“A connection? Like love?”

“It need not be romantic love. There are many kinds of love.” Braeden clapped his hands together. “So, shall we begin?”

“Begin with what?”

“You want to find Cameron, don’t you? You can use your connection to him to do that,” he told me.

I shook my head. “But I don’t remember him. What connection can we possibly have?”

“You might have been separated long ago, but the connection exists nonetheless. You are twins, Terra. You shared a womb. You shared magic. You can find your connection to your brother.” Braeden opened his arms, extending one hand to me, the other to Jason. “Connect to Jason, and his Phantom powers will boost your link to Cameron so you can track your brother.”

I looked at Jason. I wasn’t even sure I knew him anymore. How could we connect?

Braeden seemed to read the doubt in my eyes. “You and Jason have been friends since you were born. Your connection is strong.”

“We haven’t seen each other in two years,” I said. “That was long ago, in another lifetime. We aren’t the people we used to be.”

Braeden dipped his head. “As you say.” He didn’t sound convinced. “So you wish to give up?”

“No,” Jason and I said at the same time.

Smirking, Braeden began to mix up a potion using the ingredients from the tiny wood boxes stacked on his coffee table. My pulse jumped in alarm, remembering what Vib’s Synergy serum had done to me. It hadn’t just given me Phantom powers; it had given me Phantom behavior disorders as well.

Braeden offered me a reassuring smile. “You are safe with us, Terra.”

“The last time we saw each other, you tried to shoot me,” I reminded him.

His smile never faded. “As you said, that was in another lifetime.”

“You tried to shoot her?” Jason wasn’t smiling.

“The look in your eyes right now proves that your connection to her is as strong as ever,” Braeden said.

Jason’s eyes iced over. He was wearing menace like a silky black cloak.

“There’s no mistaking the way you look at her,” Braeden told him, blissfully unaware that he was running to his own doom. “That look that you would die a thousand times before you let any harm come to her.”

“I swore to my father that I would look out for her,” Jason said, his eyes hard, his voice scathing.

“You did?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes, the day he told me we would be betrothed. And again before he died.” Jason looked at Braeden. “If you think I would forgive an attack on someone I swore to my parents I would protect, then you must have me confused with another cousin.” Jason’s eyes smoldered with dark ice. “Perhaps one who is not an assassin and the Elite Phantom.”

“Of course.” Braeden scraped out a sardonic laugh. “How foolish of me to forget your sinister reputation. But let me remind you that I did not shoot her.”

Only because Jason’s sister Lana had stopped him. I didn’t say that because Jason was already teetering dangerously close to losing his cool. For someone who seemed to blame me for his parents’ deaths, he sure was very protective of me.

“What were the actual words your father made you swear?” I asked him.

“To protect you from others who would endanger you.”

“Others,” I repeated. “He said nothing of protecting me from you.”

“No.” The slow, dark smile that twisted his lips was almost savage. “He did not.”

My heart hammered a hard note, a mixture of fear and something I was afraid to name.

Braeden cleared his throat loudly. “Shall we get on to business then?”

I still wasn’t convinced I could connect to Jason, but I nodded anyway. “Ok, let’s do this.”

Braeden handed us each a bottle. “Drink these. And stop glaring and picturing each other’s head on a spike. Talk about something, a fond shared memory. You need to remind yourselves that you actually like each other.”

“We’ll give you some privacy,” Delilah said, then she and Braeden left the cabin.

The storm was still raging outside, hammering the roof like a thousand galloping warhorses.

“Well, then, cheers,” I said with a small smile as I lifted my tiny glass bottle.

We clinked bottles. I threw back my head and emptied mine in a single go. A flash of magic cut through me like an electric whip…then sizzled out. I could feel a hint of Jason’s magic, but I couldn’t feel him. And I couldn’t connect to him.

“You’re blocking me,” I said flatly.

“I wish to find Cameron every bit as much as you do. I am doing no such thing.”

He didn’t even realize he was doing it.

“Do you remember when we found that portal loop when we were kids?” I asked him.

His face was neutral. “What are you doing?”

“Reconnecting. Just like Braeden said. Now put some effort into it,” I chided him. “Do you remember the portal loop?”

“Yes.”

“Siennan mages were chasing us. There was that big Phantom who tried to kill me. You put yourself between him and me.” I looked at him.

“Yes.”

“Jason, if this is going to work, you need to reply with more than one-word answers.” I took his hands. “You need to try.”

“I am trying.”

I sighed. “It’s me, Jason. You don’t need to pretend to be tough and badass.”

He made his dark eyes smolder obsidian. It was enough to make most people run for the hills, but if he thought I was going to submit to his tyranny just like that, he didn’t know me half as well as he thought he did.

“I am both tough and badass,” he said.

“Of course you are.”

We were going to be here awhile. I might as well get comfortable—or at least dry. I squeezed the water out of my heavy, wet hair, then released it from my ponytail. Pink-blonde locks cascaded over my face.

“What are you staring at?” I asked as I brushed my hair aside.

“I’m not staring at all. I am glaring with sinister purpose, as is appropriate for an assassin of my reputation.”

I snorted. “No doubt.”

His gaze slid down my body, settling on my hip. “What happened?”

I looked at the tear in my pants. “I got into a fight with a Horned Ravager.” It seemed like days ago, but it had only been a few hours.

“Why would you do a stupid thing like that?”

I snorted. “I don’t know. It sounded like a good idea at the time.”

He grabbed some bandages and healing creams from Braeden’s supply closet. “Sit.”

I sat down, but not before I shot him a smirk. “Don’t assassins generally busy themselves with killing people, not patching them up?”

“Not always.” He wiped the blood off the tears in my leather pants.

“So you don’t want to kill me?” I asked quietly.

He spread the healing cream across my cuts. “Why would you think that?”

“Your eyes. Your magic. It’s crashing against mine. Like it’s ready to attack and destroy.”

“That is my normal state.”

My eyes stung with unshed tears. “What happened to you, Jason?”

“Too much.”

“I’m always here for you. You know that, right? I know you blame me—”

“I don’t blame you, Terra,” he cut in. “You warned us about the vampires’ attack. You tried to help, and you were imprisoned for us. Because of me, you lost everything. I don’t blame you. You should blame me.”

I set my hands on his cheeks and met his eyes. “No, I don’t.”

He pulled away from me. “I would never harm you, Terra. Never. But I am not a good person. You need to stay away from me.”

I let out a soft, despondent laugh. “You are my best friend.”

“I’ve lost you. I can see it in your eyes.”

“You haven’t lost me,” I told him. “Nothing you could do would make you lose me.”

He shook his head. “You don’t know the things I’ve done. Horrible things.”

“To survive. To save your people.”

“At first, yes. But then it became more. The killing… I liked it.” A jaded smile twisted his lips. “It satisfied that dark need inside of me. It quenched the desire to destroy. You are too good, too pure. I am not. Deep down, every Phantom’s idea of fun is a bloodbath.”

“You are more than the sum of your magic, Jason.”

He said nothing.

I set my hand on his arm. “I know my friend is in there. Let him out.”

“No. I am not the man you knew.” But he moved toward me, his nose so close that it brushed mine. “Only the beast remains.”

His hand gripped my back, tugging me roughly toward him. A ragged gasp parted my lips as he kissed my jaw.

“You are even more beautiful than I remember.” His finger brushed across my mouth.

I caught his hand as it traced down my ribs. “Stop.”

He withdrew a step, but the deep, sensual look in his eyes sent a flash of heat through me that made me shudder.

“What are you doing?” I choked out, my heart hammering in my chest.

“You wanted to bond.”

“Not like that.” I stepped back. “You’re my friend.”

His shrug was easy, arrogant. “You desire me.”

I blushed even redder. It was true. Jason was darkly attractive. And when he looked at me like that, I could almost feel the velvet touch of his Phantom hands.

But he was also right about another thing. He wasn’t the man I’d known, my best friend. He’d changed. And I wasn’t about to jump into his bed before I understood who he was now. No matter how tempted I was.

One of the windows slammed shut, its curtains swooshing as all three candles on the desk puffed out at once.

Jason’s voice dropped to a dangerous, seductive whisper. “Terra, what are you doing?”

I wasn’t sure. My emotions were all over the place.

“You’re using Phantom magic. My magic. I felt you dip into my magic pool and sip from me.” His eyes burned.

“The serum is working?”

“Yes. And it goes both ways.” His magic brushed across mine in a teasing, tempting caress.

Then he dove in. A surge of magic exploded in me—a hot, searing flash that tore through my body like wildfire, igniting a desire so raw, so unexpected, that a soft moan broke past my lips. I could almost taste the mint on his breath. My mouth trembled at his nearness, which he took as an invitation to move in closer.

“I should be protecting you,” he said. “But I can think of nothing but kissing you.”

“Not only kissing.”

Now joined in Synergy, I could see into his head, and what I saw there both scared and excited me. I was having a hard time remembering why I shouldn’t sleep with him.

“No, not only kissing,” he agreed.

I brushed my hand across his cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. It was the color of dark butterscotch, highlighted with liquid gold and black chocolate. His hand flashed out and caught the back of my head, pulling me into a slow, deep kiss. Magic cascaded inside of me, mine crashing against his as we slowly melted into each other.

Jason stopped. His face turned away from mine, but he didn’t back up. “What is it?” His voice was a sharp hiss. It was the sound that a dragon made when he was interrupted while enjoying his treasures. His hand stroked slowly up and down my arm.

“I see the Synergy potion worked.”

I turned to find Braeden standing in the doorway, and at that moment, my surprise and embarrassment catapulted me into a vision. I saw a man my age. His drenched pale blond hair was pasted to his scalp. Hard rain slammed down like needles, rustling the trees. A flash of lightning lit up the enormous mage stalking toward him. A Phantom, I realized. The behemoth’s eyes pulsed like pools of scorching, liquid bronze. He was coming. I could feel his prey’s alarm.

“Cameron,” I gasped, my knees buckling as the vision faded out.

Jason caught me before I fell.

I looked up into his eyes. “I saw my brother. And the mage holding him. He’s a Phantom.”

“Big fellow?” Braeden spread his arms wide. “Bronze eyes?”

I looked at him in surprise. “You know the mage who has Cameron?”

“I have spies everywhere.”

“So why the charade?” I demanded. “Why the potion?”

“That was my gift to you two. You’re welcome.” He flashed us a grin.

Jason met his smile with cool indifference. He was clearly unimpressed.

I blinked. “Gift?”

Braeden nodded. “Synergy is a magic like no other. It felt good, didn’t it?”

I couldn’t deny it. I’d never felt so close to anyone before in my life. “Was it real?”

“As I told you before, this potion can only enhance what is already there.”

So that meant…what exactly? I didn’t even know.

Jason’s breathing had calmed. He was blocking me again, closing himself off. The smooth, seductive caress of his magic faded from my skin, leaving me cold. I suppressed a shiver.

“If you’re done playing games, tell us where Cameron and his captor are,” he said to Braeden.

“All right. But first I need something in return. Nothing in life is for free, you know.”

“Jason is your cousin,” I reminded him. “You want to profit off your own family?”

“Things have changed, princess. Pegasus is gone, its people scattered across the galaxy. And I have to look out for the best interests of my people. I can’t afford to give away things for free. And you’re not my family, Terra. I owe you nothing.” He smiled. “But don’t worry. I’m not asking for much, simply that you’ll owe me a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

Braeden gave his hand a dismissive wave. “Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.”

Cameron’s location in exchange for an undefined favor in the future. Only a fool would make that deal.

“All right,” I agreed. What choice did I have? I couldn’t leave my brother there with that killer.

Braeden shook my hand. “Splendid!” His perfectly pleasant expression worried me. “Your brother Cameron is being held by a Phantom, a powerful mage who works for Lord Varen.”

Lord Varen was the ruler of Dragon Eye, an independent world. Over the last several hundred years, both the vampires and the witches had tried to annex his world—multiple times. But the soldiers they sent to Dragon Eye via portal never returned or messaged back. Neither did the ships they dispatched. They just disappeared without a trace, as though they’d never existed.

The Varenese were mysterious people. They’d been around since the birth of the Galactic Assembly five centuries ago, but no one knew anything about them. They didn’t participate in the Assembly—or any other galactic affairs, for that matter. They simply kept to themselves, always watching, never sharing. Their ruler Lord Varen was either immortal, or a line of many different people of the same name.

“Lord Varen has an army of mages,” Braeden said.

“Did you say an army of mages?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“How many soldiers are we talking about?”

He shrugged. “A few hundred mages.”

“And where did they all come from?” Most mages were united under the high king—once my father, but now my older brother Davin. The only exceptions were Sienna, a world of mages allied with the witches; and the uprooted people of Pegasus. “Your people?” I asked Jason.

It was Braeden who answered. “No, Lord Varen had a mage army long before Pegasus fell. No one knows where he got the mages, but they’ve been with him for a very long time.”

“And now they’ve taken Cameron.” I swallowed hard, steeling myself for the battle to come, a battle I didn’t think we could win. Even with Jason’s help, we had no chance of fighting hundreds of mage warriors. “Where do they have Cameron?”

“The Varense have a hidden hideout on Earth,” Braeden told me. “You will find Cameron there.”