by K. M. Shea
Intimidated a little despite myself—not because I was actually afraid of him, but I was a little afraid of what his reaction would be—I nervously twitched my shoulders. “Hey,” I said, using one of the greatest openers ever. “I think backup—”
Killian swept me up, lifting me off the ground and crushing me against his chest.
It took me a few seconds to process it. It wasn’t until the angry squawks of my family—who sounded like a flock of fuming parrots—broke through my daze that I realized Killian was holding me in his arms.
I stiffened, and my frustration and anger reared to life. “Killian—” I intended to rip him a new one, but I fell silent as I took it in.
Not that Killian was holding me in a dreamy way most girls would sigh over—I didn’t care about that. Actually, I was pretty tempted to pull his hair for it.
No, it was that when I set my fists on his chest, intending to push off him, I realized he was shaking.
I hesitated and flatted my hands so my palms were smooth against his dress shirt as I tried to gauge him.
He had his head pressed against the nape of my neck, and took in a very slow and steady—but long—inhale. No rattling, no extra noises. His grip on me was firm—perhaps the tiniest bit tight—but his hands were steady, and he didn’t react at all to the House Medeis wizards who were quickly raising their weapons.
He wasn’t shaking with fear or leftover adrenaline like I was. Not a chance. Based on his body language, I’d guess he was shaking with barely repressed emotion.
I wasn’t entirely certain what kind of repressed emotion. With his head still pressed against my neck I couldn’t see his eyebrows—which were the best indicators of his current mood. But I knew it wasn’t a great mix to have my wizards—who were overly protective—mixed with Killian—who was suspicious at best. (And that didn’t touch his minions.)
I cleared my throat. “I guess now would be as good a time as any to tell you that you are a raging moron.”
The House Medeis wizards quieted at my words, but I could feel their tension—and rage on the part of Felix and Momoko, who were probably staring holes into my back.
It was the right thing to say to Killian, though, who had frequently referred to my snark as the “amusing yaps of a puppy” when I first met him.
He finally peeled his head back, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips. “I guess,” he echoed. “Though I expected you to first complain how close my hand is to your butt, given that you seem very protective of it.”
Someone made a strangled gurgle—I’m pretty sure it was Mr. Baree.
“You are right,” I said. “Move it an inch, and I will call down a lightning strike right here and now.”
Killian raised both of his eyebrows. “It might be worth it—just to see exactly what makes you so defensive.”
And just like that it was as if the past few weeks fell away. It was as if he’d never kicked me out, as if no time had passed at all.
Oh, no. He’s not getting off that easy.
The smile fell from my face. “Put me down.”
Killian’s smirk slowly faded, and he studied my face, his eyes turning black in the dim light.
“Now,” I growled.
Killian slowly set me down, letting my feet tap the cement before fully releasing my weight. “Thank you for your help,” he said.
I shrugged. “The Night Court played dirty. Someone had to show them society isn’t just going to sit by and let them break the law.” I forcibly turned my back to him. “Leslie, check in with everyone back at the House, would you? I want to make sure no one dropped by to play.”
“Yes, Adept.”
“Are we heading back?” Mr. Baree asked.
“That depends.” I shifted my gaze to the Curia Cloisters—the sirens were blaring, and even though the parking lot was on the other side of the building I was pretty sure I could hear the endless rumble of cars. It sounded like Elite Bellus’s backup had arrived.
“What does it depend upon?” Mrs. Yamada asked.
I bit my lip. “Do you think my notes on the lecture survived that?”
Felix snorted a bark of laughter before he could muffle it. “Are you joking?”
I scrunched my nose at my much taller friend. “I worked hard on those notes! And you can bet Elite Bellus will call on us and want to know what we thought of the presentation, just to bug me.”
“You might deserve it for all the paperwork you inflict on the Wizard Council,” Momoko said.
“Hey, they could end that standoff any time,” I reminded her.
“Hazel,” Killian said.
I stiffened my shoulders. “What?”
“I want an alliance.”
Against my will, my traitorous body spun around so I could face him. “You want what?”
Killian’s eyes smoldered. “An alliance.”
I laughed harshly. “You’ve got to be kidding. You kicked me out and called me useless, and now you want an alliance? Hah!”
“You knew I was lying about that.” Killian slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “You said so as you stormed out of my office.”
“That doesn’t excuse what you did!” I curled my hands into fists, shaking with anger—and maybe a hint of betrayal.
I’m not sure if it was the fury in my voice or just their instincts, but Celestina and Josh appeared behind Killian. They weren’t holding weapons or anything, but I got the feeling they were there just in case I decided to launch myself at him.
Killian shrugged. “I did it for your own good.”
“You did it because you didn’t trust me,” I snarled.
“No.” Killian stared at me, unflappable. “I did it because the Night Court fae threatened you. That’s what the paintball attack in the mall was all about.”
“You seem to think that your lying, manipulating, and scheming is acceptable as long as it’s for a cause you decide is right,” I said. “Newsflash, it’s not! And you better get it through your head that I’m not one of your little minions who is going to fall in line and end friendships just because you tell me to.”
That, I was somewhat satisfied to see, made Celestina wince.
Killian tilted his head. “You’re still mad? Even though you know I sent you away to keep you out of harm?”
“Yes.”
“I sent the Paragon to you to make it easier to fight your cousin, and attacked the Night Court while you fought him so they couldn’t provide backup. If you don’t believe me—”
“I already knew about that!” I felt magic jolt through me with my high emotions. “The problem is you didn’t trust me! If you had told me we could have worked something out. But you’re suspicious and paranoid, and you wanted to deal with it in your own way. That’s fine for you vampires, but that’s not how I’m willing to play.”
“Very well. What, then, do I do to change your mind?”
“You have to apologize!”
“I’m sorry.” He sounded about as convincing and sincere as a con man. “Now will you join in an alliance with me?” he continued.
“No!”
“I apologized.”
“You had absolutely no sincerity, and you still clearly don’t believe you were wrong—” I groaned and cut myself off.
“An alliance would be beneficial for House Medeis as well,” Killian prodded, unable to let the topic drop. “The Night Court might have left you alone before, but after tonight there’s no chance they’ll let you off.”
The distant sirens pounded into my head like nails. “I can’t deal with this tonight.”
“Come to Drake Hall tomorrow,” Killian said. When I murderously glared at him, he added, “So we can continue this talk. I’d like to reconcile, Hazel.”
“Yeah, and I’d like a pony,” I grumbled.
“You’ll come tomorrow?”
I glanced back at my wizards. They were all staring at me with great attention, but none of them showed any kind of reaction beyond curiosity and inte
rest.
A sigh leaked out of me like I was a poked balloon. “Not tomorrow. We’ll have to talk to Elite Bellus. We’ll come over this weekend.”
Killian slightly bowed his head. “We will prepare for your arrival.” He lifted his hand and almost brushed my cheek before I recoiled.
“This weekend,” I stiffly said.
It took a lot of willpower to turn my back to him and force a smile to my cheeks. “Let’s go, House Medeis.”
“Yes, Adept!”
“I’ll run ahead and get the cars.”
“Do you want me to dart in and see if your notes happened to survive?”
I had never been more grateful for my family. Since my nerves were obviously frayed, they enveloped me as a group and chatted brightly without expecting real answers as they bodily escorted me away from Killian Drake.
An alliance.
He wanted an alliance?
What on earth was he thinking?
Chapter Seven
Killian
Two nights after the attack at the Cloisters, I impatiently tapped a pen on my desk as I considered the conundrum that was Hazel Medeis.
She had sent me a curt message, scheduling a meeting for tomorrow evening. Which meant I had roughly twenty-four hours to figure out how to win my way back into her good graces.
It felt both ridiculous and refreshingly challenging. I hadn’t worried about what any specific person thought of me since long before I became the Eminence. And now here I was, wondering how I could get one petite but powerful wizard to talk to me without annoyance crinkling the corners of her blue eyes.
I sighed and tossed the pen on my desk. “I’d say it’s embarrassing, except—alarmingly—I’m more worried about the outcome than my prestige.”
“You are referring to Hazel, Your Eminence?”
I glanced over at my Second Knight, who hovered in the open doorway of my office. “Yes.”
“She has the fire of humans within her,” Josh placidly said. “It allows her to be passionate about many things.”
“Maybe in some cases.” I leaned back in my desk chair, making the leather sigh. “But I suspect this grudge of hers has been nursed along because she’s suffered a lot of betrayal recently.” I narrowed my eyes at my desk. “She’s known since the day she left Drake Hall that I was sending her off for her own good. And I suspect she knew the Paragon didn’t drop by House Medeis when she was fighting Mason because he thought he should pay a social call.”
“Perhaps someone ratted you out,” Josh said.
“Of course they did,” I snorted. “It’s why I put all the bleeding hearts on guard rotation for her street. I thought Julianne was my surest shot, but I don’t know for certain it was she who told Hazel about the raid we pulled off on the Night Court…”
“Even though Hazel knows your motivations, she’s still angry with you,” Josh said. I think he thought he was helping me organize my thoughts, but instead a dagger to my side would have been more comfortable.
“I’m not in that position all by my lonesome,” I reminded him. “She’s furious with you and Celestina as well.”
“Indeed. Celestina assured me she had a plan to worm her way back into Hazel’s good graces after she left, but apparently she was out maneuvered.”
I shrugged a little. If I was going to be in the wizard’s bad graces, I might as well have some company. “You are here to report on Gavino, I assume?”
“As you requested, yes.” Josh straightened his shoulders. “He is up and walking around. It’s been recommended that he refrain from training for at least two days, and no strenuous work outs for a week.”
“Good. Make sure he and Julianne are kept off guard rotation for this week. And Rupert?”
“Is perfectly recovered,” Josh reported. “Or so he would say. He’s still tight in the shoulders and drops his guard a bit in hand to hand combat, but I imagine by tomorrow evening he’ll be back in perfect condition.”
Tomorrow, that would be just in time to thank Hazel—which was sure to put Rupert in a sour mood given his dislike of her.
I went back to staring at my desk. “She’s mad because she says I don’t trust her.”
“Ah, we have returned to the topic of Hazel?” Josh thoughtfully tipped his head. “Perhaps she does not understand that the small degree to which you do trust her is rare.”
“Yes,” I agreed without any intonation. “A small degree.”
In reality I trusted Hazel far more than I wanted to.
A wizard’s blood reeked to vampires—a self-defense mechanism because if a vampire actually did manage to drink a wizard’s blood, they were then immune to that wizard’s magic. The magic in the wizard’s blood, however, was not very amiable, and acted as built in protection. As long as the wizard didn’t trust the vampire, their blood would taste so rancid and disgusting that no vampire would be able to swallow. On the flip side, as long as a vampire didn’t trust the wizard, the wizard’s blood would smell like a rotting carcass, and if the vampire tried to drink it anyway, they’d get sick.
It was a tactic Hazel had used to her advantage before. When fighting a crazed, Unclaimed vampire she’d smeared her blood across its face, making it gag and stop attacking her.
Unfortunately for me, Hazel smelled amazing. It was difficult to pin down because she didn’t even smell like prey. Rather, she smelled how sunlight used to feel before I was a vampire and it sapped my strength. Warm, caressing, and beautiful.
As delectable as her scent was, it was a dangerous thing for me. Trust was dangerous. The only silver lining to this was no one had any way of suspecting just how much I really did trust her.
I sighed and dropped the depressing line of thought. “She wanted an apology, then said it wasn’t good enough. She said it wasn’t…” I frowned as I recalled her exact words. “Sincere?”
Josh blinked his red eyes at me, absolutely no help.
Maybe I should ask Celestina. But it weirdly seems like that would be admitting defeat—besides, Hazel is mad at her, as well, so Celestina obviously isn’t that much more advanced in this area than I am.
“You sent her away for her protection, but given the alliance you proposed to her, might I assume you believe it’s no longer needed?” Josh asked.
“She badly needs protection,” I said. “Because she’s an idiot who will run head first into a fight that doesn’t involve her just because she thinks it’s the ‘right thing to do’.” The distaste I held for the idea made me furrow my brow. “But I’m willing to admit she’s trained her underlings faster than I thought possible. She’s only had approximately two months, and already they were fighting as a unit and were able to hold up magic-made shields that were strong enough to repel a blast from a holy sword.”
“It was impressive,” Josh said.
It was more than impressive; it was a game changer. With House Medeis united, it would take far more than bullets to attack her. Although they had lower numbers, if Hazel kept training her people and herself—I hadn’t missed how massive her shield was; she’d come a long way since she last practiced in Drake Hall—they were actually the larger threat to fae.
Which was why the Night Court were more likely to attack Hazel at House Medeis now even if she had distanced herself from me, and there was no way I could allow that to happen.
I no longer needed to hold her at arm’s length—forcibly keeping her out wasn’t going to stop the Night Court from attacking her.
It irked me a little that all my extracurricular reading had been for naught—she didn’t need my protection since she had her own. But I was glad she’d be safe. Or safer, at least.
It’d be a relief, to welcome her back, actually. It made me sound like some sort of angst-ridden, newly-turned vampire, but I had missed her. A lot.
I abruptly stood. “She said I wasn’t sincere,” I repeated, recycling my previous observation. “So, I will drown her in apologies until she gets one that hits whatever vague requirement she’s settle
d on.” I smirked, pleased with the turn my thoughts had taken. “But I should be able to tip the scales in my favor with a bit of research. Call for Celestina…and Rupert.”
Chapter Eight
Hazel
I was grumpy when we arrived at Drake Hall. Or really, I was irritated with myself.
My lungs twisted weirdly in my chest, and my traitor of a heart had me feeling nervous.
Seriously, it was enough to make a girl enraged! I was justifiably mad at Killian and his Family—Josh and Celestina in particular.
While Julianne and Manjeet had smuggled my beloved katana to me—which I now very pointedly had hanging from my sword belt—Celestina and Josh, the two vampires I was closest to, had followed Killian’s orders and kicked me out without even a goodbye. Heck, sour-faced Rupert—who hated me—had even broken his orders to confirm that Killian had sent me away for my safety and had performed a raid on the Night Court to distract them while I attacked Mason—their ally—and reclaimed House Medeis.
And yet the two I trusted most had essentially painted me out of their lives.
So I was understandably furious with my fragile heart that was happy to return to Drake Hall.
I slid out of the car, shut the door, and leaned against it. A deep sigh leaked out of me as the vampires standing guard at the front door and holding sun-blocking umbrellas bowed to me and my retinue.
“You okay?” Felix’s golden hair glowed like magic even in the weak, late afternoon sunlight.
“Of course.”
“You don’t have to do this.” Momoko slammed the driver’s door and marched around the front of the car. “Say the word, and we’ll go home.”
I pulled my wool coat tight, trying to ward off the chill of the frosty fall air. “No. If I can wrangle everything I want, an alliance with the Drake Family will be really advantageous. And since I’ve written off everyone who ignored us when Mason took over, our allies are slim pickings.” I scratched my cheek and tried to casually grin. “Plus, I’m pretty sure we ticked off the Night Court enough that they may try and fight us. Once they get out from underneath all the regulations and punishments they’ve been slapped with for breaking the law and attacking while inside the Curia Cloisters, that is.”