Eden nodded, remembering what happened even though she had wanted so badly to forget. The guilt she felt over abandoning the other witches was enough to make her want to throw up.
“What happened? Were you guys able to hold Katy?”
Amira nodded. “The guards came in shortly after you booked it. They got Katy locked up.”
“Why did she do it?”
“It wasn’t her,” said Amira. “It was a spirit.”
“What?” Eden shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“A spirit.” Amira repeated. “He stowed away in the basement, in Katy’s workshop, during the last battle. He waited until she was distracted, in the middle of a very tricky spell, and then he possessed her.”
“They can do that?”
Amira nodded. “Sometimes, yeah. But it’s rare. They can’t possess human bodies because the vessels are too weak. They just fall apart the second a spirit enters. Shifters are often too strong and can fight them off — seeing as they are very used to living with two different ‘people’ inside of them, so to speak. They know how to fight off an invader. Witches, on the other hand, are perfect for possessing. Usually, if a witch is on her game, she can fight the spirit off, but he jumped into Katy when she least expected an attack. He made her mess up the spell, hoping he could destroy all of the witches and guards of the castle with one big explosion.”
“At least that’s our working theory,” said Chris. Eden turned around to see he was standing in the doorway of the make-shift infirmary. She wondered how long he’d been standing there. “There is no way to prove the witch’s story, so we sort of just have to take her word for it.”
He walked in and sat at the foot of Eden’s bed.
“Not just her word,” Amira corrected. “All of us witches are vouching for Katy. We know her and there is no way she would do something like this.”
Chris smiled at her. “I’m sure you’re right.” He said the words but they sounded empty. “So,” he said to Eden. “How are you feeling?”
She didn’t answer.
“Seriously? You’re going to pout? Doesn’t that seem a little immature?”
“I’m not pouting,” she said. “I’m just not a big fan of making small talk with the man who has now captured and imprisoned me twice!”
“Hey the second time is on you.”
Eden scowled and went back to giving Chris the silent treatment. “Fine, be that way. I will ask the doctor about your recovery. Whenever he gives you both the clean bill of health, I expect you’ll get back to work.”
“I should be ready in a few days,” said Amira. “I always was a quick healer.”
“Great!” Chris clapped his hands together. “Because being two witches short is not a good look for us. Although I did hear there might be another magically inclined woman being sold at a market next week. Her name is Rory. Do you know her?” He glanced back and forth between Amira and Eden. Amira shook her head no but Eden wouldn’t even give up a gesture. Chris shrugged. “Oh well. It might be just a rumor anyway.”
He stood up and started to walk out, then hesitated.
“Oh, there’s one other thing.” He looked over his shoulder. “What exactly were you planning on using that nuclear fusion generator for?”
Eden smirked. “Wouldn't you like to know.”
“She speaks!”
“While I’m at it,” Eden added. “Having already broken my short-lived vow of silence, I feel I should tell you, I won’t be working for you anymore.”
Chris’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead. “Is that so?” He sounded amused. “I wasn’t aware you had any choice in the matter.”
“Look, do whatever you want to me,” she said. “Torture me, kill me, offer me more money, I don’t care. I am not going to work willingly for someone who is holding me hostage. This might sound dramatic, but at this point I have very little to lose, and I’d rather die than answer to you.”
The amusement melted from Chris’s face. “You’re right,” he said. “That does sound dramatic.” He walked out into the hall and disappeared without another word.
Eden waited a few seconds, listening to hear Chris’s footsteps up the stairs and out of earshot before speaking.
“What do you think he’s going to do?” she asked Amira.
“Beats me,” she said. “Although I’m pretty sure torture and murder are off the table. He’s not that kind of guy.”
Eden sighed. “Thank Tessa,” she said. “I was mostly bluffing.”
“Besides,” Amira added. “He and his cousin are both obviously crushing on you, so I wouldn’t worry too much.”
Eden gawked at Amira. The older witch only smiled back and laid her head down on her pillow. “Now if you’ll excuse me, it appears my medicine is starting to kick in. I think I’ll take a quick nap.” She winked and closed her eyes, leaving Eden alone, in the quiet room, to mull over the idea that she might have not one, but two new admirers.
“Eden!” Leo perked up when she walked into the dining room late that night. He had an empty plate in front of him and a full glass of wine. “It’s so good to see you up and about. How are you feeling?”
Eden sat down without a word and waited for the chef, who she had spoken to just a moment before, to come bring her a plate of leftovers and a drink.
Leo waited a moment for Eden to answer and then kept talking. “I get it,” he said. “You’re upset. I would be too. You don’t want to be here, working for us, and we are forcing you to stay. Who wouldn’t be angry?”
Eden picked up her fork and started grinding it into the wood of the table.
“I guess I was hoping we could talk about it,” Leo continued. “You, me, and Chris. We can find a solution that works for all of us.”
“The only thing that works for me is having my freedom. End of story.” Eden was scratching up the varnish, but she didn’t care. “So unless that’s what you’re offering, I’m not interested in having a little chat.”
“I can’t promise you complete freedom,” he said. “But maybe we can work something out like the deals we have with the other witches. Days off, unlimited access to your magic.”
“What I want, no sorry, what I need, is to get back to my shop.”
“But don’t you see!” said Leo, his voice gaining in both volume and passion. “This is so much bigger than you and your little shop.” Eden could tell he didn’t mean to be insulting, but the way he said ‘little shop’ stung nonetheless. “We are trying to do something great here! We are trying to save lives! I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound condescending—”
“Too late.”
“I’m just trying to get you to see how important it is that you stay and help us. We need you.”
Chris walked in, carrying a glass of wine and reading a newspaper. He didn’t notice Eden at first. “Leo, we have to talk about this issue with the new witch.”
Leo cleared his throat and Chris looked up.
“Oh good,” Chris said. “She’s here.”
“I was just talking with her about what our options might be moving forward,” said Leo. “I think we could broker a deal that makes sense for all of us, if we can all promise to be willing to compromise.”
“Absolutely not,” said Eden, at the exact same time that Chris said, “Never.”
“You guys are acting like children!” said Leo.
“No,” said Eden. “You guys are acting like children. Actually, better yet, you’re acting like… well, like total idiots!”
Chris grinned and looked at Leo. “Yeah, she’s really the compromising type. Great plan.”
“Why won’t you just let me go!”
“Like I said,” Leo repeated. “Because we need you! We need you to have even a fighting chance at winning this war.”
Eden laughed. “It won’t matter! Tessa! How many times do I have to tell you? You are going to lose this war if your whole strategy is just to fight here, at the castle, with a handful of dragons and witches.”
<
br /> “We are growing our army,” said Chris.
She waved him off. “Yes, I know. So I’ve been told. And again, I feel the need to emphasize that it. Won’t. Matter.”
“So then you just want to give up?” said Leo. “You think the war is already lost and you don’t even want to try to save innocent lives.”
“Ugh!” Eden threw her hands up in the air. “Fuck it!” she yelled, swinging them back down. A part of her still felt it was a mistake, telling the cousins about her machine and her personal plans for saving the world. But the rest of her, which so desperately wanted to see the look on their dumb wolf faces when they realized she had been working on a way to close the portals for good longer than they had been old enough to legally vote, overpowered her better judgement. “This is why you are idiots. I’m not giving up. In fact, I’m trying to do the exact opposite. I have been working on a machine for years now. My father originally designed it before he died. If I can finish building it and get enough juice to power it, it will close all the portals to the underworld.”
“All of them?” said Leo.
“Every. Last. One.”
They were speechless. There was a hint, a tiny pebble, of regret sitting in Eden’s stomach, but it wasn’t bothering her too much. She was getting too much enjoyment, basking in Leo and Chris’s awestruck expressions and pathetic stammering.
“I, don’t, but—” Chris was saying.
Meanwhile Leo frowned and started questions he didn’t know how to finish asking. “Why didn’t you… we could have maybe… this is insane! How?”
“Let’s not worry about the how just yet,” said Eden. “Mainly because it would take me about ten years to explain it to you. Also, because you two need to promise you aren’t going to say a word about this machine to anyone else. Got it?”
Leo nodded but Chris looked skeptical.
“How can we be sure you’re telling the truth?” he asked. “You could just be lying to get us to let you go.”
“If I was lying, why would I run off with that generator yesterday unless I needed it for something?” she said. “Like a Hadron Collider. In case you haven’t noticed, the generator is pretty damn awkward to carry.”
“Maybe you were going to pawn it when you got back home,” suggested Chris.
“Yeah right! It’s nowhere near the most expensive thing in this castle. If I wanted to steal something of value to pawn, I would have taken the solid gold pocket watch you keep in a box on top of your desk.”
Chris looked at Leo, as if accusing him of revealing where his most prized possession was.
“I didn’t tell her,” he said.
“I went snooping when Leo took me on a tour of the castle,” said Eden. “I also learned you prefer boxers to briefs and that you have a collection of expensive, women’s skin care products stashed underneath your bed.”
“Hey those are for men and women!” said Chris. “You let her into my room?” he yelled at Leo.
“For like two seconds!” said Leo. “I didn’t know she was going to snoop!”
“I snooped in your room too,” she said. “Just FYI.”
Leo shook his head. “Let’s get back on topic, shall we? You have a machine that can save the world, it’s back at your repair shop in the city, and we have here in the castle a piece that you need to finish the Hydrogen Collider.”
“Hadron Collider,” both Eden and Chris corrected him.
“Right, that, “said Leo. “So what are we going to do?”
All three were quiet for a moment, then Eden halfway raised her hand. “I have an idea. How about you two let me go so I can finish saving the damn planet!”
“That’s one idea,” said Leo. “Any others?”
“How long do you think it will take you? To put this new piece in and get the machine up and running?”
Eden shrugged. “Not sure. A few days.”
Chris winced and Leo’s eyes widened.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Our security team has been noticing some activity around the portals near the castle,” Chris explained. “We think they might be gearing up to launch another attack. If you go, we’ll be down two witches if they attack soon.”
“Three, depending on what we decide to do with Katy,” said Leo. “Is there anyway we could get the Collider over here to our castle?”
Eden smiled. “You could try, but without me there, it would be near impossible for you guys to get past my wards and security.”
“We’ll send our best guys and maybe one of the witches with him,” said Chris. “They can bring back your equipment and in the meantime, you can keep working with the rest of the witches here and get ready in case you need to fight.”
“That could work,” said Eden. “But I’m going to need a few more things to get the collider up and running.”
“We’ll get whatever you need,” said Leo. “Don’t worry about that.”
“So,” said Chris. “Do we have a deal?”
Eden bit her lip. She had already revealed her biggest, most sensitive piece of information. There was really no going back now. “Yes. We have a deal.”
Chris and Leo both smiled and Chris stuck out a hand to shake on it. Eden took it, holding back a smile. After the peace making and the handshaking was done, Chris got back to business.
“Now then, tell me about these wards you have around your shop?”
Eden smirked. “You’re going to need a pen and paper.”
Chapter Ten
Playing Prisoner
The next few days were a blur. Eden was so busy, helping the cousins and their “men” —which was really a group of security personnel which included both highly trained men and women— prepare for breaking into her shop and continuing her battle training with Wen, her new mentor while Amira healed, she barely had time to eat. Thankfully, both Leo and Chris were being extra attentive to her needs. Every few hours one of them would send a servant down to her new workspace with food or coffee. They would check in on her personally, when they had time, which she pretended annoyed her but that she actually really enjoyed.
They were starting to grow closer, the cousins and she. Chris and Eden actually shared a very similar sense of humor, and now that they were past their initial stage of animosity, they spent most of their time together cracking jokes and laughing until their bellies hurt. Now that she was a free agent, more or less, she no longer had to wear the magic suppressing bracelet. Which was Eden’s favorite new development. Leo seemed to enjoy it as well, seeing as he was asking Eden to show him a spell or two. Magic fascinated him. He even admitted one day, while the two of them were taking a lunch break together, that the first girl he ever fell in love with was a witch.
“Really?” asked Eden through a mouth full of fruit salad.
“Yup,” said Leo. “We met in school. My parents sent me and Chris to this fancy private high school for wealthy shifters and witches. The witches were in a different program than the rest of us, but every once in a while the school would hold a function where all the students were in attendance. Her name was Lorena. We met at an all school dance.”
“How romantic,” Eden said with a smirk. “Did you ask her to dance?”
“No way!” said Leo. “I was way too shy. She asked me. And from that moment on I was totally hooked.”
“Did you two ever go out?”
“No,” he admitted. “We just became good friends. She came from a purest family, who would never hear of her dating a shifter. They wanted her to marry a man who came from a witch bloodline.”
Eden nodded. She’d known people like that over the years. “That’s too bad.”
Leo sighed. “Yeah. Oh well. It all worked out for the best.”
“How do you figure?”
“Well,” he said. “If I had gotten together with Lorena, maybe we would have gotten married and moved away. Then I wouldn’t be here with you.”
Eden felt warmth in her cheeks and she could no longer keep a strai
ght face while looking at Leo. She opted for looking down at her plate instead as she searched for a reply.
“That’s a very charming thing to say.” She stabbed her fork into a grape and stuck it in her mouth. “Seems like Lorena’s the one who really missed out.”
She wasn’t looking at him but she could tell Leo was smiling.
It was Friday afternoon when Lord Wellson visited the castle. He was a friend of a friend of Leo’s parents, and he had come to ask Leo’s family for a short-term loan. It appeared he had run into some financial trouble last month and he owed some gambling debts to a gang of dragon shifters who were not exactly known for being the forgiving type.
Leo was on pins and needles as he, and the rest of the castle, were getting ready for the visitors. The staff had been cleaning and cooking all morning. When Eden came down at around nine-thirty, she thought maybe they were preparing for some sort of gala.
“What’s all the fuss about?” she asked, catching Leo as he ran up the stairs. He was wearing a nice, freshly pressed suit and he had his long hair pulled back in a braid. He looked dashing, and Eden let her hand rest a moment on his arm. “Are we having a party?”
“Not a party, no,” said Leo. “Some visitors are coming, a lord, his lady, their two daughters, and a few of their servants.”
His face looked a little flushed and Eden could tell he’d been sweating. “Okay,” she said. She leaned in and whispered. “What’s so scary about them?”
“They aren’t scary, per say. They are just very… traditional. Which reminds me.” He fished inside his pocket and pulled out the suppressing bracelet. “I need you to wear this while they are here.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“It’s not a real magic suppressing bracelet,” said Leo. “It just looks like one. Lord Wellson is a very bigoted man. He thinks all shifters besides wolves are disgusting creatures, but witches and humans are easily at the bottom of his list. If he finds out we have hired witches to work for us and are letting them roam around the castle as they please, he will go nuts! He’ll tell everyone in my family’s circle of friends, and we will be ostracized. I’m sorry.” He gave her a pleading look. “Please, will you put this on? All the other witches are wearing them, if that makes it any better?”
Auctioned to the Werewolf Princes Page 10