The ice was gone.
Which meant so was our shield. “Why take it down now?” I asked, trying to ignore the sickening feeling of dread creeping up my spine. We weren’t ready. Not yet.
“We said we would fight. We promised,” Diana said. “But we need Naram at full strength, and he needs the unfiltered light of the moon to heal.”
“He is the key to winning this war,” Miles growled.
I swallowed down my fears and nodded. “To war.”
The Dragons turned from me and embraced each other. I left the room, closing the door softly behind me. Eira stood a few yards away, down the hall. “How much did you hear, my love?”
She gave me a half-smile and shrugged. “All of it.” She turned toward a window and stared up at the silhouette of the moon. “It’s good to see the sky. The moon will strengthen the Lycans as well. We needed the air. It is good she took down the ice.”
“They said—” My voice caught in my throat, and I couldn’t finish. “If one of them…how do I? How do I murder a friend? I’ve killed so many through the centuries, but they all deserved to die. They’re asking me to…”
Eira cupped my face and captured my gaze. “They’re asking you to protect their family. Protect those they adopted as their own. Miles and Diana are royalty. A king and a queen they have always and will always be. They worked with Rose, but they always took care of us like we were their people. Why do you think Rose entrusted the care of the Sisters to the Dragons. Bound them by an oath. She knew, if worse came to worst, they would not abandon those they considered theirs.
“I don’t know how to fight Djinn,” I said, tucking Eira against my chest in a tight embrace. “How do you kill something that disappears beneath your blade?”
“You hold it in place,” an unfamiliar male voice echoed through the hallway.
My mate straightened in my embrace and pulled away to peer down the dark corridor.
Two forms emerged from the dancing lamplight. Calliope first. Then the male vampire Djinn, Godric.
“Tell your men to fight in groups of three—two to hold the victim and the last to cut off his head.”
“Why do you help me slaughter your own?”
Godric glanced away for a split second before looking me straight in the eye. “They fight for a monster. My people would not do such a thing. Calliope tells me Rose had a vault below the town. A vault filled with quppa boxes.” He paused and narrowed his eyes. “Those Djinn would fight against a monster.”
I huffed out a surprised breath and glanced at Calliope. “How do you know they are there?”
“Bailey saw them when she first arrived. That girl can’t hold her liquor, and I can be very persuasive.”
“I’m sure,” Eira muttered beside me.
“There are hundreds of them, Killían. Rose was apparently quite the collector,” Calliope continued. “We’re going to get Manda. We have to hold up our end of the deal.”
“I know,” I answered. “Will you be back before sunrise?”
“I hope so.”
Something in her voice unsettled me, but I didn’t speak again. She and Godric retreated back into the shadows of the hallway, and I listened until I couldn’t hear their footsteps any longer. It felt like a goodbye. Eira touched my arm, bringing me back to the present.
“We need to speak with Naram and then to the people in the castle. They must be prepared to fight as Godric instructed.”
“I need you to go back to your bedroom—”
“I will go for now, but if you don’t come back for me later tonight, I’m going to seek comfort in the first male arms I can find.”
I clutched her shoulders and kissed her hard before sending her on her way with a firm swat to her delectable ass. “Don’t you even dare, my love.”
Her hips swayed back and forth as she walked. I waited until the bedroom door clicked shut behind her before jogging down the long corridor the opposite direction. My heavy boots echoed loudly on the stones beneath them, probably waking everyone on this hall, but I didn’t care. Soon enough, we’d all be awake. Awake and fighting for the right to live.
I stopped at the door to the suite the Dragons had given Naram.
“Enter,” came a male voice. Deeper than I remembered Naram’s. I reached over my shoulder to grasp the hilt of my blade before opening the door and stepping inside, one foot at a time, giving myself time to scan the room.
The man before me was not the Naram who had arrived at the castle this afternoon. This man stood nearly seven feet tall, as tall as Miles and just as broad. His skin glowed in the gas light; his brown eyes sparked with the same darkness I’d seen in Rose’s on several different occasions.
“You don’t need a sword.” Naram gestured to my still-raised hand gripping the hilt of the sword on my back.
I lowered my arm and took another step inside. “You’re…” I wasn’t quite sure what to say.
“Bigger?” He grunted out a half-laugh. “When the ice came down a few minutes ago, it was helpful. The moon reflects sunlight. While it’s not as good as direct light, it’ll do, and I’m feeling much closer to my old self.” He held out his arms, and I cringed at the burnt flesh around his wrists. “Soon, even these wounds will heal.”
“Do you have enough power to enchant a Protector’s tattoo? We’ve found the seventh, but he’ll be unable to fight in the morning unless—”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. What is a Protector?”
“The prophecy. The eight Protectors. The Sisters have visions of those that can be placed—”
Naram snorted. “There’s no time for that nonsense. Xerxes will be moving in soon, am I right?”
I grit my teeth through the second interruption. Nonsense? Did that mean the prophecy wouldn’t work? But I’d seen the ceremony. The magick it took for Rose to enchant Eira’s tattoo. I’d seen the Sisters’ have visions come true, including the one that had just brought us Protector number seven. It wasn’t nothing. It couldn’t be nonsense. “Can you do it or not?” I asked, crossing my arms and squaring my shoulders to Naram’s.
His eyes flashed white for split second, and I felt a wave of magick swirl around my body. “Of course I can.” He growled and rolled his neck. “Lead the way, elf,” he said, gesturing to the door behind me. “I can enchant your Protector or anyone else you wish that has a magickal bloodline. It’s all for nothing, though; the spell won’t work. It’s just story Lamassu tell their children about how we’ll one day get back to Veil.”
“But you know it?”
“Yes,” he hissed. “I know it.”
“You say anyone with a magickal bloodline. All the Protectors have witch blood in the ancestry somewhere. If we had an actual witch, could she be a candidate for the spell?”
“You’d have to turn her into a vampire, but yes,” Naram said, his tone bitter and annoyed. “Willing to kill one of your own? Maybe your people here are more cutthroat than I first imagined.”
What if Hannah could be the eighth? I wasn’t about to kill her though. He had that wrong.
“You have witches in town, don’t you? But Rose wanted only those called by the Sisters. My wife was a purist. She believed all the legends and stories of our people. She thought fairytales were real. She thought we would be welcomed back as the rightful rulers if we could get to Veil.” Naram huffed out a snarl. “As if the Drakonae would simply step down from their throne and hand it to us.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to go home,” I said, snapping more harshly than I meant at the hulking man walking next to me down a dimly lit hallway. “A great number of us wish for nothing more than passage back to Veil.”
“Let’s just go see your seventh Protector, shall we? The old spell doesn’t work without eight, though, so I’m not sure how this will help you.”
“There is a witch in town. I will speak with her and see if she’s willing.”
“Willing to die? Become a blood drinking parasite? Take on the curse
of the House of Lamidae? That’s a lot to ask a girl.”
“What curse?” I stopped walking and grabbed his arm.
Naram yanked away from my grip and stared down at me, his eyes flecked with white iridescence. “The legend says when the prophecy is fulfilled, the curse of visions will be lifted from the Sisters and transferred to the Chosen.”
“The Chosen? The Protectors?”
He nodded, and my stomach dropped to my feet. “What will that do to them?”
“They’ll see things, I imagine. Magick like that can’t just be gotten rid of…magick is its own living entity. That’s why you can feel it around you at times, yes?”
I nodded, quite aware of the control he had over magick and what it felt like swirling menacingly around my body.
“Magick has to have somewhere to go. If it leaves one place, it must flow into another. If the spell were really to work, the legend says the Sisters would become human and the Chosen would become the new House of Lamidae, capable of wielding the power to open a gateway to Veil.” He started walking forward again, and I jogged a couple of steps to catch up with him before we descended the front staircase.
“Why didn’t Rose tell us this? Why are you telling me?”
“I loved Rose. I will always love her. She completed my soul. I will help you do whatever spell you want, but I’m going to be honest. My goal is to make my brother suffer and die in the worst way possible before I breathe my last. I will have vengeance for my mate, and the rest of you shouldn’t stick around to witness it.”
I watched Naram go down the large staircase, anger in every step. One of the two most powerful supernaturals in the world. Just as lethal as Xerxes and possibly more blind to the world around him. And they were going to be face to face come sunrise. And from the sound of his warning, he was going to do something stupid.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Chapter 27
GODRIC
Calliope just stood there. Across the room. Staring at me.
And weeping.
Not uttering a sound, but tears flowed down her cheeks as if she were trying to fill the room with an ocean of salt water. Anything she could conjure to keep me from touching her. Every time I moved closer, she countered with a step away. Each step was like a stab to the chest with a butcher’s knife.
She wanted me, but she was terrified of being with me. And what kind of father would curse his own daughter? What had he done to make her so—broken? I’d thought my family was messed up, but she was giving me a run for the title of most-screwed-up child. The ugly nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach said I’d only gotten the tip of the iceberg with her. She was hiding something. Something much worse.
“You don’t have to do this alone. I’m here. I’m your mate. I’m not going to leave. I don’t know what happened to you in the past, but you’re mine, Calliope Hart, and I’m not giving up that easily.”
Still nothing. She only stared. And the pain in my chest grew and expanded, digging its claws into me until it had spread over my entire body. The monster in me wanted to kill something to make it right for her, and the Djinn side of me just wanted to take her and hide her away somewhere safe. Somewhere she wouldn’t have to worry and live looking over her shoulder. Fuck what my sister needed. Fuck all of them in this castle. My mate needed me.
But I didn’t take her.
I couldn’t.
I needed to follow through with what I’d started. I’d given my word, and that should mean something. I’d been cast from my family because they didn’t trust me. Leaving now would make me what they thought I was.
“Godric, thank the gods I finally found you. Where the hell—” My sister’s voice cut through the silence of the room. I turned toward her, shocked to find a frightened red-headed woman in tow behind Asa. “Nevermind…”
Asa glared first at Calliope and then at me, narrowing her eyes as if she were about to launch into one of her rants, but then her face released the tension, and she jerked the woman standing behind her forward. “I found the witch muttering to books in the library. We are ready to go get Manda. The last time I saw her, soldiers were taking her to the place they call the Pentagon. I’ve been there, but not inside. There are wards protecting that building like they have on this castle. No teleporting inside.”
“How are we going to get her then?” I growled out, crossing my arms. Angry that I hadn’t had more time to get to the root of what had my mate terrified to touch me. Neither side of me liked that one iota, but I would deal with it soon. Right after I stole my niece from the Pentagon. Damn. “You know that used to be one of the most fortified buildings in the entire country.”
“No. I didn’t,” Asa snapped back. “I was inside a Quppa box for the last few millennia.”
“Look, I’m not sure what you think I’m going to be able to do, but I’m not that powerful,” the redhead said, her voice trembling.
My sister snorted. “I can tell, but between you and the Siren, we should be good. You know how to take down ward spells, yes?” The redhead nodded, and then my sister turned her unwavering focus on Calliope. “Sirens can amplify magick. When she casts to break the spell, you funnel your power into it.”
Calliope wiped her cheeks and nodded.
“What about the warded pieces on Manda’s body? We can’t teleport even once we have her, right?”
“That’s where I come in,” a familiar male voice rumbled. Jared walked into the room, giving a subtle nod to my sister before focusing on Calliope. “You alright, Calliope?”
Calliope straightened, flipping her long, nearly black tresses over her shoulder and gave him a smile that would’ve dazzled a mere mortal. “Good. Ready to do this.” She sounded perfectly put together, but I knew the difference. I could hear fear making her heart race. I could smell her tension in every bead of sweat on her brow. I could taste her sadness in the air through the tears she’d just wiped away.
“Thank you for helping me,” the Phoenix said.
“Do you think your fire will be hot enough to free her, Jared?” Calliope asked, her voice cool and collected, not revealing a shred of the chaos wrestling inside her body.
“It’s the only chance we’ve got. Miles won’t leave Diana. And we don’t want to risk it, anyway. I’m the only one left that burns, so to speak.” He met my gaze. “Can we count on your help, Godric? With two Djinn working together, we’ll make progress faster.”
I tipped my head. “I promised my sister I would,” I said, shifting my gaze to pin down Asa. She didn’t smile, but she didn’t yell at me, either, so that was progress. “Anyone else joining this party?”
“The only other person who really gave a damn about Manda was Charlie.” Calliope released a sigh and let her shoulders fall just slightly. “She won’t leave her children.”
“I don’t blame her,” I answered without hesitation. “Asa, you need to jump me there first so I get the location locked in, but first, we have to get outside the barrier protecting this castle again. Can we still use that back entrance?”
“I can open it.” My mate turned on her heel and walked past my sister, stopping briefly at the redhead’s side. “Stay close to me, Hannah. I’ll need to be touching you to really amplify your spell.”
The smaller woman nodded and gave Calliope a brave smile. She couldn’t be that old—maybe mid-twenties. From what I’d been told, her father and sister had both just died, leaving her only the townspeople for family. Though the town seemed to pull together more than I had expected. Everyone helped with the wounded and the children wandering the halls. I’d never seen so many pixies in one place before. Hell, I’d actually never seen so many supernaturals in one place before. I’d definitely never witnessed cooperation on this scale before.
The five of us made our way down one dimly lit stone hallway after another. Calliope led. I jogged ahead a few steps, putting my shoulder to hers for a brief moment. She made a small noise of surprise.
�
��Please, don’t,” she whispered.
“You’re going to tell me eventually.”
She wouldn’t look at me, and we just kept walking. The footsteps of my sister, the witch, and Jared thumped rhythmically behind us. The minutes stretched, and it seemed like hours passed before we were in the dark tunnel of a hallway again—the one I knew led to the small door.
“Jared.” Calliope spoke, and Jared replied by bursting his hands into flame.
I jumped back from the sudden flare of heat and hissed at the male walking behind me. “Watch it.”
“I wasn’t going to burn you,” Jared shot back.
“It was a bit too close for comfort,” I said, glaring at him again over my shoulder.
“Really, are you two going to argue like a couple of teenage boys?” Asa grabbed my arm and yanked me backward before pushing Jared closer to Calliope.
I smothered a snarl and turned to face my sister. “What the fuck is your problem?”
“My problem is that I need you all to focus. Manda is being held by a psychopath. We are her only hope. If this doesn’t work, that monster will kill her, and I’ll lose my baby forever.”
“If she’s supposed to be Sparky’s mate over there, you’ve already lost her.”
“At least she’ll be free. We could all be free soon if that Lamassu we rescued takes Xerxes down. The palace will be ours again. The entire race will be able to rebuild. There are so few of us left.”
I stopped, ice filling my veins. That was it. Right there. I shook my head back and forth slowly and stared at my sister’s retreating form. The real reason she’d wanted me back. I was merely a building block to recreating the strength of the Djinn race. She didn’t want to forgive me. She just wanted to use me. I’d been a fool for thinking otherwise.
“Godric, what are you doing?” Asa’s voice cut through the anger and disbelief brawling in my head.
Sanctuary, Texas Complete Series Box Set Page 127