Thorns of Fate

by Hayley Todd

  “It took quite a while to work out that ability,” came another voice that I wasn’t eager to hear. Liam stepped out of the shadows and approached Henrick, his arms crossed over his chest and my heart fell.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  “Work it out?” I croaked, my throat raw.

  Liam sighed and rolled his eyes before glaring at me. “You royals think you know everything, staring down at the rest of us from your ivory tower. I tried to explain my ability to you but you didn’t seem interested.”

  “Y-you can feel magic,” I replied, trying to recall the awkward conversation we had shared.

  “I can feel magic, yes. But I can do so much more. Unlike Lord Henrick, you, your father, even Lady Evelyn were so short sighted that you never even bothered to find out what else I can do!” He was roaring at me now and if I could have, I would’ve flinched away. He had slapped his fist out, cracking me across the jaw before I’d known he would move.

  Liquid fire rolled through my chin and lights exploded in my vision, my ears ringing.

  “Now, now,” Henrick said politely. “No scuffing the merchandise. I think you did enough damage back at the mansion. I have plans for her.” He put his palm against Liam’s chest as a restraint. Liam took several long deep breaths and stepped away.

  Henrick hesitated for a moment, watching Liam as though he expected him to lash out at me again. My head throbbed and now my mouth, chin, and also jaw ached.

  “Liam here is a man of many talents. For Magicks like Anton, Liam is his perfect counter. He can sense both mortal magic and magick, as well as being able to unravel them both. Anton can build and destroy an imprint. Liam can destroy them with gusto.” Henrick smiled cruelly at me. “My son has proven himself weak. Liam has been chosen to help me overthrow your father and the idiotic Magick Council and take over with you as made pliant as my queen.”

  “Where’s Will?” I asked in a hiss. My words came out mumbled but were audible. I glanced around the room, unable to see much farther than the circle's edge but finding no sign of him.

  Henrick sighed. “Ah, the human,” he replied. “He’s alive and if you cooperate, he will remain so.” I didn’t like the wicked gleam in his eyes.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked.

  Henrick and Liam exchanged a dark smile. “Liam is going to unravel your imprint.” Henrick said, grinning.

  I gasped. “You can’t. It will kill Carson and Valeria and Anton,” I said in a quick breath.

  “I am well aware,” Henrick replied.

  “You’re going to kill your own son!” I shrieked, jerking at my restraints which proved to be bolted to the wall behind me.

  “He has outlived his usefulness,” Henrick responded, unaffected.

  “It will kill me,” I yelled, equally furious and baffled at the heartlessness of these men before me. They didn’t value life as anything more than personal usefulness. It was sickening.

  Henrick barked out a harsh laugh. “We’re counting on it. My coven of witches will draw from the life forces connected to you and force it into you instead. You’ll survive. But you’re...imprintees will die either way.”

  So that was his big plan. He was going to sacrifice Carson, Valeria, and Anton to break the imprints but still keep me alive for whatever sick twisted games he had in store.

  “Why do you need me?” I asked.

  Henrick and Liam both chuckled, as though this were some inside joke. “I unfortunately need you to mother offspring. Once the council has been decimated, the only things securing my reign will be a powerful mate and powerful children. I will take the Magicks by force.”

  “And what is Liam’s prize,” I asked, looking Liam and his frat boy appearance up and down.

  He smiled at me though there was only malice in the gaze.

  Henrick looked Liam over and I was sure that that same contempt dwelled there as well. “Liam will serve as my right hand after the coup. He will get his choice of the best women Magicks have to offer. And he will exact his revenge on those who have underestimated him.”

  “They’re pride was their own downfall,” Liam chimed.

  I stared at these two criminals. No one had ever questioned Liam’s loyalties but it had all been an act. His disdain in the interrogation room hadn’t been feigned. I should’ve guessed that he was up to something. I could’ve stopped this all.

  “So, that’s it,” I said, sickened. “You plan to break my imprint, kill those attached, and somehow force me to be your compliant queen to take over the Magicks.” I stared up at those golden eyes, so reminiscent of Anton’s but filled with such a different consciousness. “You’re deranged,” I spat.

  Henrick glared down at me, lashed his hand out and quickly backhanded me across the face. My cheek felt ablaze and the impact stung, making my head throb again. “You are merely an insolent child,” he growled. “Magicks are the most powerful supernatural entity in existence if allowed to grow and prosper. Your father has held us down with his peace talking politics for far too long. It is the end of an era and Magicks will emerge victorious.” He then stomped away, speaking with a hooded figure that had been waiting patiently by the edge of the circle.

  “Is it ready yet?” he hissed. The words flowed to me easily as long as I focused on the location.

  “It is, milord,” the man responded, looking over to me. He was an unassuming human with greying hair and crystalline blue eyes. He looked as though he could’ve been handsome once but had squandered it on drugs or some other substance abuse.

  “Then we wait only for the final element,” Henrick responded, walking slowly around the circle. He held his hands behind his back and observed the witches stepping away from their tasks.

  Liam still stood close by me, watching Henrick.

  “You know he’s going to throw you away as soon as he’s in power, right, Liam? Everyone is expendable to him. You’ll have served your purpose. Why would he give you anything else?” I whispered the words to Liam, barely a hiss. I knew he had heard me though, because his posture went completely rigid.

  He turned an icy gaze to me. “I have plenty to offer. You’re a short-sighted as your idiot father.”

  Damn. I had hoped I could goad him into helping me. But he was just another pawn, just another player in Henrick’s game. I chose not to refer to him as a victim but I could plainly see how it was true, even if he was blinded to it.

  I pulled at my restraints carefully, trying not to show it, but they didn’t budge. Now that I was thinking more clearly, I could tell that there was also a cuff snapped around my neck and I worried now about the precaution that had seemed like common sense when we had captured Valeria.

  I tried to reach into the air, to draw power to me. Perhaps I could bring a lightning storm onto this place and find a way to escape.

  But there was nothing.

  As though I were simply human again, I felt no excess strength, no lingering ability in the world around me.

  Liam whirled around, glaring at me. “You didn’t think that would really work, did you? As if we were stupid enough to bring a Magick from two powerful bloodlines into our fold without locking down her magick? You really are an idiot. Just like your father.” He said the words harshly, letting each one smack me down. He was a coward.

  “So, you’re afraid that a baby vamp could tear down your entire plot?” I asked, trying to goad him into something. Anything had to be better than sitting here and waiting for my own demise.

  He squared on me, lifting my chin with his finger. It reminded me of Carson and how he would lift my eyes to his delicately but without a single trace of his warmth. “Unlike some people, we choose not to underestimate individuals, friends or foe.” Then he dropped his finger and strode over to Henrick, watching the final preparations and leaving me alone.

  So, this was it for me? I couldn’t save Carson, Anton, or Will from this captivity. Was this really what my life had amounted to? From helpless human, to helpless Magick. For all the pow
er in the world, I could do nothing.

  I could vaguely hear the crunching of gravel somewhere far above me. Henrick and Liam both shot their gazes into the shadows to my right. They exchanged an eager glance. “Ah,” Henrick said, “the final ingredient has arrived.” He daggered a gaze at the hooded man he had spoken to before. “It’s time. Begin,” he commanded.

  My heart hammered in my chest, my pulse racing. This ritual was all that remained between all that I had earned and it all being dashed away. I had experienced love unlike anything I had ever known. I had had power to change the world around me. I had been given strength and speed and family. And I was about to lose it all.

  The witches before me gathered in a circle, lifting their heads and hands upward. They chanted words that made no sense to me but even I could feel the magic lifting into the air. The dark circle around them began to flood with light, glowing a dull red. Wind swirled about the room, tugging at me and sending identical cloaks flapping in its breeze.

  Car doors slammed above, dozens of feet stepping through the gravel. I could hear voices shouting, though their actual words were lost to me.

  As the witches’ bellows continued, a sharp pain began in my chest, deep in my heart, pulling and tearing at the fiber of my very being. The glow along the floor of the room illuminated its shape, casting sharp spears of light along the exterior.

  I pulled against my restraints again, trying in futile effort to escape.

  Henrick and Liam moved toward the shadows on my right hand side. A door had become visible there by the glow of the spell. They dashed through it, headed toward the voices.

  After several minutes of impotence, tugging at unrelenting chains, I sagged. The pain in my chest welled, the glowing circle growing sharper and more violent before me. I listened for the voices above, anything to help me understand what was happening. The wind tore at my clothes, stinging my skin.

  “She’s in here somewhere,” came a familiar voice with whispered words in the darkness on my left. There was a loud thump though the witches were so enthralled in their chanting that they didn’t even seem to notice. Something cracked and sounded as though metal was under strain. Then footsteps carried to me.

  I stared into the darkness, willing the area to be visible and found that it did actually come into focus. I still couldn’t see much around the sheen of red light, but there was another door on that side of the room as well.

  Another pierce of pain stabbed through my torso and I cried out, jerking helplessly against the restraints. It came again and again, rolling over me like waves of agony. I held Carson’s image in my mind, wanting nothing more than to see him again. I would give my life in an instant if he could walk away from this unscathed. To my surprise, I found myself thinking the same of Anton. He had become a friend and knowing what I knew now, I sincerely hoped he always would be. I had known partially, what he had sacrificed to keep me safe. Knowing now that he had imprinted on me…

  The door to the left burst open and I felt tears rolling down my face. Damien, Carson, and Anton flooded into the room. Another jolt of pain shook me, my cries becoming incoherent babbles.

  “There she is!” Anton shrieked, coming in my direction. As he neared the circle, he slammed against a solid, but invisible barrier, sending shimmers of blue-white light around the room. The witches and I were entirely encompassed in a bubble of invisible energy, barring them from entry. “Shit!” Anton bellowed, slamming an impotent fist against the barrier and sending another explosion of arching power around the room.

  “Kyra,” Carson called, kneeling at the edge of the force field. I looked to him, fighting to see clearly through the haze of pain and my own tears. My chest burned now and if I hadn’t known better, I would’ve suspected I had been set aflame.

  “Carson,” I cried, unable to articulate anything better.

  Carson’s head whipped to Damien, standing over his shoulder. “We have to do something,” he snarled.

  Damien looked completely and totally helpless. I had never seen my father be anything but strong and empowered and in this moment, he looked at a complete loss. He stepped forward, pressing his palm against the border of the force field, staring at me.

  “He’s going to break the imprint,” I cried, forcing the words to leave my lungs. The pain bit back, more furious than ever. I screamed, unable to hold it in. “You’re both going to be killed!” I shrieked before falling forward, exhausted from the effort.

  The three of them exchanged a glance, looking over the witches the bubble.

  Carson looked up, and we shared a long, heated gaze. His eyes were full of pain, full of longing and it broke my heart. I wanted to shed these shackles and run to him, throw my arms around him, feel his warmth pressed to my skin. I wanted to scream my love to him and...I had never told him. I had never told him that I loved him. I knew now more than ever that I did, but I had never told him.

  “Carson…” I gasped, choking on the pain as it elevated to a maddening level within me. He stepped to the barrier, his hand extended as best as he could being unable to cross it.

  “Kyra,” he called, his eyes overwhelmed with sadness. They were glass, tears I had never imagined running over his cheeks.

  “Carson...I-I,” I began, struggling to breathe now.

  He didn’t look away, he didn’t cringe from my gaze. He wouldn’t leave me alone. Not even in this moment of torture. From the look in his eyes, I could tell that he knew. He knew that one or more of us would not walk away from this encounter alive.

  “Carson…” I was beginning to fade, falling beneath the crushing weight of that overwhelming agony. It was tearing me apart, remaking me from the very depths of my soul.

  “Carson, I love you,” I gasped at long last, forcing the words to be made whole. It was quiet but the microscopic smile on his face showed me that he had heard.

  And then the pain was unbearable and I could only scream an impotent cry.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Carson splayed his fingers against the barrier, forcing familiar blue-white arcs of power across its surface. He stared at the invisible space between, something thoughtful in his gaze. “Kyra, this will not be the last time I hear you say that,” he growled, suddenly turning back to my father.

  I couldn’t hear what he articulated over the thrumming of my own rapid heartbeat in my ears. He gestured to Damien, wildly, pointing back to me. Anton stood at his side, watching me carefully, but listening. He nodded his head and both he and Carson stepped away from Damien.

  My father stood, his feet apart in a balanced posture. He lifted his hands toward the air as though dragging a great weight along with him and the entire room began to shudder, shake, and buck beneath us. The wall I was attached to suddenly shattered behind me, dropped me into a heap on the floor, hands still bound.

  Carson flailed wildly, pointing back to me. My father nodded and increased his focus, staring hard at the ground behind me. A spear of earth, like a stalactite shot from the ground, grazing the skin of my back painfully and clanging off metal. I felt a hot lance of fire along the skin of my back but when I moved, I found that one of the restraints had been pierced, shattering its clasp.

  I yanked my hand free, pulling them from behind my back and fighting to move through the malicious agony ripping through my chest. Carson fell to the ground outside the circle, clutching at his shirt, his face twisted in horror. Anton collapsed to his knees, doing the same.

  I placed my free hand over the other cuff, pressing down until the metal began to give way. It seemed that without the cuffs restrictions, strength had returned to my free arm. With a forceful squeeze, the metal collapsed, shattering beneath my fingers. I ripped the husk of unknown metal from me and let it fall, hanging from its connection to the one around my neck. I turned to it next, squeezing it with all my might.

  It took several moments to get anywhere, but finally the metal melded into the shape of my clenched fingers. I yanked, hard, dragging a scarlet flash of pain acr
oss the back of my neck but pulling the metal free of me.

  Immediately, I could feel the buzz of electricity in the air. Magick was being wielded here and I looked again to the force field encompassing us. I reached forward, touching it with a finger and sending blue-white sparks around the room. Those bastards.

  This was magick.

  This was my magick.

  I took a deep breath, trying to push the agony from my mind and began to draw. The energy resisted me, fighting not to come to my call. It was being wielded for a purpose and didn’t want to let go of its design. I pulled harder, until I fell to my knees from the struggle. The rough ground below me dug into my skin, sending more pain running along my body.

  But it came.

  Slowly, the liquid energy relinquished its undeniable grip on the force field and swept into me. I felt stronger by the moment, the buzz of radiating electric welling inside me and fighting against the pain gripping me. I would make him pay. Henrick would pay for what he had done to me and my friends. I would rescue Will and not just defeat Henrick. I would decimate him.

  My palms glowed, spitting furious sparks of electricity around me. The light of it dwarfed even that dark red illumination from the circle. I forced my way to my feet and lifted my hands, pressing the energy spinning within me into my fingertips and expelling it into the air above. It slammed into the shield, arcing around its shape and casting shimmering light.

  And after just a moment, the entire structure collapsed.

  The barrier fell, floating motes of magick falling around us, dissipating before it dropped to the ground below. I fell back to my knees, exhausted without the energy filling me. I had used almost all that I had gathered, just to shatter that spell. I hadn’t yet seen anything like it and I was a bit envious that I hadn’t thought of the idea. A shield. My magick had been turned into a shield.