“Seriously?” Miles arched a brow at me. “Does he always talk like this?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” I said.
Adair bared his teeth at us, and a shadow fell over him from behind. Harper. Cold light bloomed from the spot where her hands had once been. She’d figured out how to harness the power of the nodes, spirit-mage-style.
“Duck!” she yelled at me.
I threw myself on top of Miles as she blasted spirit magic at Adair. He dodged, only for the beast to take the brunt of the attack instead. The wyrm swung its tail and knocked Adair off his feet. Spitting out curses, he climbed upright and put a hand on the beast’s head to calm it down. “Word of advice, Bria? Ditch the spirit mages. Come back home where you belong.”
“It’s not up to you to tell me where I belong, Adair,” I said. “I want no part in your twisted games.”
“So you picked them instead?” he said. “A living disgrace and a dead one. They’re not long for this world.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Harper.
Spirit energy burst from her hands, but her attack bounced straight off him. We backed up, side by side, dodging the monster’s lashing tail.
“He’s pretty much impervious to magic,” I warned her. “He’s not like other mages.”
“Like you?” she asked. “I saw how fast you moved.”
“Later,” I said. “We have to get him subdued, preferably without setting him loose on the unsuspecting public.”
Most people wouldn’t be prepared to deal with someone with his particular skillset. The bastard had always been a tough one to beat even when we sparred for fun. But when I’d turned him in, I’d been elevated to the top of his list of enemies.
Why was he here in the city? There was something more going on than a simple family visit, that was for sure.
“Why now?” I approached him at a wary distance, flames leaping into my hands. “You could have come looking for me at any time, yet you had to drag in my best friend and employer—not to mention the spirit mages.”
“Why do you think?” he said. “It’s started.”
My heart dived. “What’s started?”
He smiled at me. “The second spirit war. You know it’s coming, and you know you’ll have to pick a side. Choose ours.”
“No, thanks.”
“It wasn’t a request.” Hate simmered in his eyes. He was still mad at me for what I’d done, and he’d stay mad even if I ultimately took his side.
As if I’d ever let the Family control me again.
He lunged. I did likewise, but my flaming hands caught on empty air. He’d aimed for Miles instead at the last second, and the spirit mage immediately froze on the spot, his gaze fixed at a point in the distance. Under his control.
“Let him go,” I warned.
“Only if you agree to join the Family again.” Adair pressed a knife to Miles’s throat. “Do it.”
23
I remained still for a moment, trying to catch Miles’s eye. To my relief, the glazed expression was fading already, but the knife bit into the side of his neck, a bead of blood rising to the surface.
“Go on,” said Adair. “You can’t stay loyal to him, not when he’ll inevitably betray you like the others.”
“Really bright and cheerful, isn’t he?” said Miles, as though there wasn’t a knife pressed to his throat. “Honestly, I think you’re losing the war. From what I’ve seen, anyway.”
“The war is just starting.” He indicated the bank of machinery behind him, and the wyrm coiled around it, as though waiting to pounce. “We’ll bring down the Houses and the Death King and everyone else who wants to claim dominion over the mages of the Parallel.”
“You’re talking about unleashing anarchy at a time when things are unstable already,” I said. “People will die.”
“We won’t.”
He was right on that one, unfortunately, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be involved in this. “You want to be the last man standing?”
“Pretty much.” The knife bit into Miles’s throat. “Go on. Say you’ll join me.”
Damn him. The two of us were equally matched, but I didn’t dare risk Miles’s life. The beast coiled in the background watched me hungrily. And Tay…
There came a spark of light. Then, electricity flared, igniting at Adair’s feet. He jumped back with a curse, and Miles spun away from him, his hands glowing with spirit magic. His punch sent Adair sprawling, tripping back onto the platform. Harper closed in on the bank of machinery, her own magic igniting the transporter. Adair leapt to his feet, but the transporter’s light caught him, and he was gone.
“This isn’t over,” I said. “He must have ended up in one of the other citadels, and there’s a fair chance it might be Arcadia.”
“I figured.” Miles reached into his pocket and tossed a paralysing spell into the wyrm’s face. “That ought to hold it for a bit.”
“Tay,” I said. “Did you…?”
She stepped forward, her face flushing. “Word of advice? If you don’t want to go back to your family, run far away.”
“You were my family,” I told her. “But I guess that doesn’t matter now.”
She flinched, which was my intention. I’d wanted her to think really carefully about what choice she made, because once she did, there would be no going back. Perhaps it was already too late, but I didn’t really believe that. The fact that she’d come out on my side over Adair proved that.
Miles grabbed my arm. “She’s right. We need to go. The others are still fighting in Arcadia.”
I know. Miles and I had abandoned the other spirit mages on the battlefield, including Shawn. Time to abandon ship.
Miles led the way, and Harper and I followed him through the transporter. When the light faded, we found ourselves faced with the empty room of Arcadia’s upper floor.
Harper faced me. “Who was that guy back there?”
I’d known the pair of them had a million questions, not least because they’d witnessed our fight for themselves and were no doubt making connections between me and the impossible speed and grace that they’d witnessed from Adair… and from the assassins.
“My… my brother,” I told them. “Kind of. We grew up together, but we’re not technically related. He has a gift for magically induced influence. A mild form of mind control. I learned how to resist it, but it’s not easy if you don’t know the tricks.”
“Damn,” he said. “He moves as fast as you do, too. And the ears…”
I moved a self-conscious hand to my own. “Yeah. We’re both half-elf, I think. I use a spell to hide mine, but I guess he doesn’t care if anyone notices.”
“Half-elf?” he said.
“And half-mage,” I said, “though it was a toss-up as to whether I’d come out with the right talent or not.”
Miles’s brow wrinkled. “Right talent?”
“The Family was—is—very precise about what kind of skills they wanted their subjects to come out with,” I explained. “Adair came out with mind control abilities. We both got the ability to regenerate from deadly wounds. The Family used unlicensed experimental cantrips on us and sold them behind the scenes. That’s how Tay ended up the way she is.”
“Come again?” said Miles. “I saw her use some kind of electric power. You mean to say your family did that to her—gave her magic?”
I dipped my head. “Her guardian bought one of the Family’s cantrips and used it on her. I didn’t know she still held a grudge, but it doesn’t help that the Houses see anyone with unconventional magic as an abomination. Anyway, I ran at the first opportunity when I broke free of Adair’s influence and got him and our parents locked up by the House of Fire.”
“He’s walking free, though,” said Miles. “Why’re they working with Shawn and the others? They’re not spirit mages.”
“No, that’s why I didn’t know they were the ones pulling the strings at first,” I said. “If the Houses of the Elements crack down on mages, though,
they’ll hit what’s left of the Family doubly hard. It makes sense that they’d side with the people they think are going to win the second war. Meaning, the spirit mages.”
“Damn,” he said. “And Adair thinks you want to join him?”
“He’s deluded,” I said firmly. “Never mind him. We have to get back to the others.”
The sound of footsteps came from the stairs. I halted, my heart sinking. Is that Shawn?
“I knew we should have killed the bastard.” Miles ran for the door, which flew open as a flash of light ignited.
Shawn ran at me, but Miles slammed into him from the side before he could unleash his attack on me. The two spirit mages fought bitterly, and another spirit mage ran at me. I hit him hard and fast, no longer bothering to hold back. Flames leapt around me, surrounding me in a circle and preventing them from getting close enough to drain my life force. They must be close to running out of steam now.
“Retreat!” Shawn yelled from the top of the transporter.
“Get back here!” Miles ran at him, but the transporter’s glow had already flared up.
I crashed into Miles, he pinned down Shawn, and the transporter’s energy engulfed us all, taking us back to Elysium.
The monster had gone. That was the first thing I noticed.
The second was that Adair was back, and his expression promised me pain, and a lot of it. “You’ll pay for that one.”
Shawn rolled out from underneath Miles, and the two began firing off attacks at one another again. Adair, meanwhile, advanced on me. “Come on, Bria, it won’t be so bad. We always planned to join forces, didn’t we?”
“Those were just games, Adair,” I said. “They ended when you started hurting real people. I was a kid, but you should have known better.”
But I knew better than to expect him to change. Our creators had designed us to be two halves of a violent whole, only one of us had been able to see past our shared destiny. Adair wasn’t capable of being anyone else.
“You’re going to lose, Bria,” he said. “I picked the winning team.”
“Like I said, this isn’t a game,” I replied. “Not anymore.”
He lunged. I rolled to the side and fetched up against the wall. A hand closed around my wrist—Tay. I tensed, but she pressed a cantrip into my hand. I felt its cool magic stirring against the magic in my own palm.
She’d given me her only spell, and I had to make it count.
Fire ignited in my hands, and Adair’s eyes flew wide as the cantrip stoked the flames into an inferno. The jet of fire flung him backwards into the bank of machinery which operated the transporter. Fire danced across the surface, its amplified strength combining with the damage wrought by the wyrm. Lights flickered on and off, while sputtering noises sounded from the transporter.
Good luck calling your army now.
Adair’s screams died in an instant, while flashes sputtered from the flaming hunk of metal at the back of the room. His army wouldn’t be using that as an escape route again anytime soon.
Breathing hard, I turned around to see Miles and the other spirit mages in the act of restraining Shawn. The spirit mage released a furious cry at the sight of Adair’s body lying across the wrecked transporter, but Miles firmly tied his hands behind his back.
Tay strode out of the corner and into view, and her eyes went to Adair. “You killed him?”
My jaw tightened. “You might have gathered my family’s a little more resilient than most. He’ll get over it. Before he does, I’m going to call someone to pick him up, along with those guys.” I jerked my head at the fallen spirit mages. “It’s up to you to decide if you want to be here when they show up.”
Pain flashed in her eyes. Then she turned and left the room without another word.
“She won’t make it far,” Miles said. “The authorities are already combing the streets. The only reason they aren’t in here is because they think it’s haunted.”
I rubbed my eyes. “To be honest, I think she’d be safer with them than the alternative. When you’re with the Family, you either stay with them or die.”
He rose to his feet. “Not sure if this will make you feel better, but Shawn and I were once allies, too. People can disappoint you. Not everyone, mind, but some people.”
“Family certainly can,” I murmured. “Adair needs to be locked up before he recovers.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he said. “We’d better head back to Arcadia and check on the others.”
With the transporter broken, we had little choice but to leave the tower via the front door. Miles astral projected outside to check the coast was clear, and when we had a clear route free, we walked to the nearest node and travelled back to Arcadia.
From the node, we hurried into the square, where the surviving spirit mages gathered around Shelley.
“Garber is dead,” Miles said to her. “Shawn is tied up and waiting for the authorities to show up. Have we lost any of ours?”
“Tate is checking,” said Shelley. “I heard Sledge copped it, too. Blew himself up with one of those inferno cantrips.”
I grimaced. “That figures.”
The square was a confusion of bodies, some living, some dead. Spirit mages, former wannabe-Fire Elements, assassins, and whoever else had joined their ill-conceived attempt at a coup.
Harper drifted along the ground, then let out a soft gasp. Her brother’s body lay in the dirt among the others.
“Harper.” I strode to her side, tried to put an arm around her, but it passed straight through her transparent form. She sobbed, without tears, unable to accept the comfort I offered.
My heart ached for her. Had there ever been another fate after he’d turned against the Family, though? They took no prisoners and left none alive who defied them.
Except for me.
“Let’s head home before we get arrested,” I said. “Harper… we can take his body with us. I won’t let anything happen to him, I promise.”
“Not so fast.” The Air Element strode forward, covered in blood and debris. “My master wishes to speak with you.”
Oh, hell. “Can’t it wait?”
They glanced between Harper and me. “Come to the Court of the Dead tomorrow. Alone.”
24
The authorities caught Tay within an hour of her escape from the citadel. Turned out Miles’s guess was right on the mark, but not being surprised didn’t make it hurt any less. A half-dozen spirit mages had died during the battle—not counting the defectors who’d supported Shawn and the Family—and the authorities had taken care to round up the survivors.
As for me, I spent the night lying low at the Spirit Agents’ house. Miles offered me a room, but I didn’t sleep. There seemed little point when I had to meet with the Death King tomorrow, and besides, a fair few of the Spirit Agents would have more than happy to see me leave.
At dawn, I gave up pretending to sleep and went in search of Harper. Since I found no signs of her in the house, I assumed she’d already gone to the Death King’s castle.
Okay. Time to get this over with.
While part of me was reluctant to leave without at least saying goodbye to Miles, I didn’t know which room was his, and I’d prefer not to wake the others. I slipped out of the house and headed for the node, my rucksack over my shoulder. Just like when Tay and I had left our hideout, though I fully expected I’d have to come back with my tail between my legs when the Death King sent me packing.
When I reached the gates to the Court of the Dead, two liches parted to let me through, their faces hidden beneath their shadowy masks. Creepy, not that I’d admit so to Harper. I looked around for her, but I saw only the Air Element waiting on the stone stairs leading up to the castle doors. When I turned their way, they caught my gaze and nodded, stepping aside to let me pass. That struck me as a good sign. It couldn’t be bad news, right?
I headed for the oak doors and opened them, revealing the wide hall. The hall of souls was locked, but no longer guarded. And the
Death King stood on the dais at the back of the hall.
Several long seconds passed as I walked, each step echoing, and halted in front of him.
“You might be wondering why I’ve called you here,” said the Death King. “I’m here to offer you a position in my Court.”
“You want me to work as your Fire Element?” He had to be joking. Right? “I didn’t even finish the trials.”
Nobody else had, either, but I could think of a dozen reasons why I wasn’t qualified. Not least of which was the fact that I’d trusted the wrong person, several times over.
“You are the only surviving potential Fire Element who passed all the trials whose loyalties didn’t come into question,” he added. “You came back to fight on my side despite the risks. That’s the sort of loyalty I look for in my Elemental Soldiers.”
My mouth parted. “I have enemies.”
“Who doesn’t?” he said.
“Fair point, but… have you asked any of the others?” I was scrambling now, unable to make sense of his decision. “I made too many mistakes. To tell you the truth, the whole thing was a complete mess. People died.”
“Many lives were lost in the battle,” he said, his voice tightening. “Many sacrifices were made. I believe you were the only person who was already aware of the potential pitfalls when you walked in here.”
Seriously? I shouldn’t complain, but a job offer was the last thing I’d expected to result from this whole clusterfuck.
“I’m not saying no,” I added. “I just need to think about it. Do the other Elemental Soldiers know? Because at least two of them don’t like me.”
“I’ve spoken to them,” he said, “but yes, you can meet with them yourself before you decide to take the job, if you’re inclined to.”
There had to be a catch. Admittedly, I’d be trading in a future with a group of magical criminals hellbent on world domination for a job working for an immortal death lord who might be hellbent on his own kind of world domination, for all I knew. But I’d take anyone over the Family, and the Death King, despite it all, wasn’t my enemy.
Cage of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 1) Page 22