Olwen dabbed his mouth with a silver cloth napkin and rose. “I must go out again and attend to business. Practice while I’m gone.”
Ice gathered in my fingertips at the order, but I nodded. My time would come soon enough.
“I will take you to the practice grounds.” Atticus gave me a small bow.
I followed Atticus out into the cool night and past the warrior ice statues. He led me down the trail and into the trees, which stood out as dark shadows against the dusk.
“Are you sure Vulthus won’t come out here?” I couldn’t take him in a fight, not yet.
“The grounds are spelled with fae magic. Olwen has invited Vulthus to his home, but not the grounds.”
“What if he can fly here?” I’d heard rumors at Nocturnal Academy that some ancient vampires had that ability.
Atticus shook his head. “Again, the protection would stop him. Also, Vulthus can’t fly. It’s not in his lineage.”
I blinked, understanding clicking into place. Was that why Vulthus was such an ass? And did it partially have to do with his rivalry with the Steinbergs? I thought I remembered reading that the Steinbergs were one of the few vampire families who had the ability to fly. Not that it mattered. Vulthus’s beef with the Steinbergs wasn’t my concern.
Atticus indicated for me to walk into the practice area, which was set up with stuffed dummies, swords, and even a bow and quiver resting at the edge. Warrior, indeed.
“King Olwen says that you must learn to combine your ice magic with standard weaponry,” Atticus instructed.
I began with the bow and arrow, grateful to have someone with me out here. Shooting the dummies in the heart was pretty easy, and Atticus nodded in approval. “Now try ice with it. What if you run out of arrows or have to quickly aim at a moving target?”
He had a good point. Breathing out, I summoned my rage as I thought of Vulthus standing before me. Next to him appeared Peony’s face, and to her right was Mei Wu’s, followed by Lady Cardinal, then Mr. Chad, and Lord Sullivan. All the people who hurt me stood around me in a circle, staring from the trees. Peony twirled a blond curl while Vulthus bared his fangs, eyes hungry for blood and torture. On my next inhale, I gathered floating ice and formed an arrow before me. Seizing it, I placed it on the bowstring and pulled back.
The arrow let loose, carrying my rage, and struck the next dummy in the heart. Ice spiderwebbed out. The dummy’s fabric chest hardened and shattered, leaving a gaping hole through which straw poured out onto the ground.
Atticus rushed over to stand beside me. “Onyx, that was impressive.”
“I don’t know how I did it,” I admitted, backing away. Had I really turned one material into another? I could not only summon ice, but turn solid objects into it?
A twig snapped behind us.
We both whirled as my back prickled. “Who’s there?” I shouted into the trees, but no fear bloomed in my chest. I was in control.
A dark figure, almost invisible, sidestepped through the trees. My senses sharpened.
“Show yourself!”
“Onyx,” Atticus said in warning.
Vulthus. It had to be. Or a spy. Maybe it was even Mei, upset I’d ruined her reputation.
I summoned a second ice arrow and moved it into place. “I’ll kill any vamp who sets foot near me!” Then I fired the shimmering arrow into the trees.
Underbrush crashed as the dark figure fled. The arrow thunked into a tree as all movement ceased. No footfalls followed. I blinked. All movement had stopped and there was plenty of space between the bare trunks of the pine trees, leaving nowhere to hide. Anyone fleeing couldn’t have left that fast, not even a vamp.
“Onyx. We must go inside,” Atticus said, taking my arm.
“I thought you said it was safe out here!” My anger remained, and I clutched the bow hard.
He pulled on my arm. “It’s as safe as it can be, but all magic has loopholes. Hurry.”
A shudder ran down my spine, and I broke out into a run back up the trail, Atticus behind me, protecting my back. And once again, I found myself worried about someone else besides me. What if it was discovered that Atticus was my personal guard? Despite my efforts to remain indifferent to him, I had gotten used to his company and came to think of him as a friend. If someone captured him...no, I couldn’t think like that. Atticus would be fine. He wasn’t Lily or Blair. He was a pureblooded fae warrior under Olwen’s protection.
Atticus tapped something out on his phone as we crossed the cobblestone plaza with the statues. A few hours had passed while I practiced, and now the sky was dark, the bright moon hanging overhead.
Olwen, must’ve returned from his business a while ago, because he shoved open the back doors to the large stone castle and motioned for us to hurry.
“Does Vulthus know I’m here?” I squared my shoulders as I reached Olwen.
Olwen gave me a serious stare as his dark blue eyes bored into my own. “No.” There was a moment of hesitation on his face, but it passed as quickly as it had appeared, and then he snapped, “Practice inside the basement gym from now on.”
“Has Vulthus come back?” I needed answers.
Olwen’s temple twitched. “Not since our last meeting. I reassured him. Don’t worry about him.”
But I did worry. The king of the sadists wanted me. He’d take his time breaking me if he ever got his paws on me. “Is there anything I need to know?”
“Go inside.” Olwen pointed to the door, his tone leaving no room for arguments. Why was he avoiding my questions? I looked at Atticus, but he just gave a tiny shake of his head, telling me to drop it.
As I headed through the door, I lowered my bow and sneaked a peek over my shoulder at the forest. The only way to reach the training plaza should’ve been through the forest, not from the other side where the brutal and unforgiving cliff cut off the path. And yet, someone had approached from that direction. I was sure of it. Someone had been out there.
Covered in sweat, I dropped my bow in the basement gym, which was just as decked out as the training yard. More ice filled me. Once again, I was stuck in a prison, training to become what someone else wanted. Being kept in the dark.
I had almost killed whoever or whatever was out there.
What if it had been Thorsten? He was a Steinberg. But he was a young vampire, and young vampires rarely had amazing powers. He couldn’t fly. And he was done with me. Unless...unless he wasn’t.
I summoned rage, but it was no use. The image of his beautiful arctic eyes and his well-built form sent warmth through my limbs, chasing away the black ice. I forced my feet to move until I reached the basement gym. If Vulthus had sent one of his men, they wouldn’t have hesitated to strike, either killing or kidnapping me. Or maybe not. Maybe his vamp guard only had the order to spy on me.
“Onyx?” Atticus asked behind me in a soft voice.
“I’m okay.” I blinked. For a moment, I had felt like my old self, not this new girl with a heart of ice. Thorsten made me have feelings. Dumb, annoying feelings. He made me weak.
I gritted my teeth. Stupid girl. Thorsten was a psycho who liked to play mind games, nothing more.
“Onyx?” Atticus pressed again. Like Lily, he seemed to be the observant type. I had to watch out what I shared around him.
“I’m fine,” I repeated. “Now, let’s resume this training.”
6
Thorsten
Onyx. I thought about her from the time I woke to the time I went to bed. And even in my sleep, she never left me.
There I danced with her and kissed her, but the dreams never ended well. She either turned away from me, or ran toward a cliff and jumped off, or was dragged away by Vulthus. I just stood there, my limbs turned to lead, unable to move. I couldn’t even shout her name.
I was a fool.
Though I hadn’t seen her in weeks and I was no longer working at Nocturnal Academy, I was still trapped, and my obsession with her grew each day. Where was she? I couldn’t take the not knowi
ng anymore.
But at least I had a lead on her location. Onyx wouldn’t have gone far on her own. She must’ve had help. She was a Winter fae, shunned by the Summer fae.
And so was Olwen Vinter, the fae man I had seen next to Vulthus at parties. A few months ago, rumors had flown about him attacking Vulthus when it had really been Onyx.
Right after Onyx’s disappearance, I began to ask around about Olwen. He was the best bet for finding Onyx and certainly powerful enough to hide her. Since I turned up nothing, I had to ask Griffin. “Who is this Olwen that everyone at Nocturnal Academy believed attacked Vulthus?”
Griffin shook his head. “He is the king of the Winter Court. Olwen has been loyal to us for twenty years and as Onyx Logan was in the building the night of Vulthus’s attack and later attacked Mei Wu with ice, we know that she was the perpetrator. His name is cleared. The hunt is on for Vulthus’s property.”
I let my jaw go slack, hoping I appeared shocked and like this was news. A fire of rage ignited inside of my body. How dare they treat her like she was an object?
“Are you angry that there was a Winter fae at Nocturnal Academy and you didn’t realize it the whole time?” Steinberg studied me carefully, and I nodded automatically, unable to find the words to respond. “It would’ve earned us a lot of goodwill if you had noticed.” Steinberg’s eyes narrowed.
Did he suspect that I had known? Time to redirect his attention. “How come Olwen didn’t say anything? Shouldn’t one Winter fae recognize another?”
Steinberg shrugged. “He wasn’t looking for a Winter fae I assume, and she’s only a halfblood. It’s harder to know with those which court they belong to.” Steinberg clasped his hands together. “Of course, Vulthus paid Olwen a visit after Onyx’s disappearance, but Olwen proved his innocence.”
I tilted my head in mild curiosity, not wanting to give away how much I cared to discover more about the King of the Winter Court. Hope surged in my chest as I wondered if Onyx was with him. I hoped she was. Because as resourceful and clever as she was, the vamps would’ve captured her a long time ago if she had no help in her escape. It didn’t matter if she had made it across the state border or even into a different country, Lady Cardinal’s and Lord Vulthus’s reach was endless, and all vampires had been informed that his one-million-dollar prize was on the run.
The best outcome was if Onyx had ended up under the wing of a powerful fae. Alone the thought made my shoulders relax. Unable to sleep and feeling sick every time I saw food over the last two weeks, I knew I had to find out if my intuition was correct for the sake of some peace before I went insane.
I had to act, but how could I find Olwen?
Through Vulthus.
After my release from Nocturnal Academy and arrival at Steinberg’s mansion, I brought my request to Steinberg. “I want to spy on Vulthus.”
Unlike Headmistress Cardinal, Steinberg was open to my suggestions on what I did with my free time as long as I followed two rules. Rule number one: do the tasks he gave me. Rule number two: stay away from fae. He didn’t know that I would be breaking rule number two with my request.
My sire nodded slowly. “Vulthus has always hated our family. It is best to know what he is planning. However, if you are caught, I will not take responsibility.”
That was Griffin Steinberg. He wanted to mold me into a worthy heir, but if he had to, he’d sacrifice me and find someone else.
That night, I borrowed a sedan with tinted windows and followed Griffin’s directions to Vulthus’s hidden stronghold in a dead part of the mountain forest. I parked deep in the trees and waited for Vulthus to emerge from his dreary, gray castle, certain that he would go to Olwen to look for Onyx.
Onyx. I had to make sure she was safe. Maybe I wanted her to need me. Or maybe I simply enjoyed playing with fire.
Night slowly turned to day. I waited in the safety of the car, shielded by the trees.
A tinted black limousine left the garage of Vulthus’s castle close to noon. I jerked to attention and followed in my own tinted car, excitement pounding through me as I kept enough distance not to be discovered. I followed Vulthus deeper and deeper. When he got off the highway, I parked my car on a dirt road and followed him on foot. His car entered a trail with a No Trespassing sign, I knew we were close. Afraid of discovery, I waited for Vulthus to make his exit. He did less than an hour later while I remained.
When night broke, I hiked up the mountain in the cover of darkness until the road ended and turned into a wall of pine trees and boulders. A small, old cabin rested up a narrow trail, one with bags of deer feed on the front porch. The place gave off a strange feeling of dread, like I shouldn’t be there. I continued hiking, but reached the top of the mountain without discovering King Olwen’s fortress. After several hours of exploring the area, I returned to the cabin and realized the simple house was not what it appeared to be. It was glamoured. The sense of dread that overcame me when I was near it was fae magic meant to keep me away.
Despite my senses screaming at me to turn around, I headed toward the cabin under the waning crescent moon. The path was bathed in almost complete darkness, but that wasn’t a problem for my vampire sense. Still, I moved carefully and slowly, knowing that fae guards might be watching me, ready to embed my chest with a wooden arrow. Steinberg had warned me that the Winter fae enjoyed fighting with old-fashioned weaponry like bows and were excellent shots.
As I got closer to the front porch, I strained my senses, listening for any sounds and watching for movements, but the house appeared dark and empty. I had to get in. I headed for the entrance, but as I reached for the door handle, the door shifted to the right and a feeling of disgust overwhelmed me, yelling at me to turn around. I blinked, disoriented, and I reached for the door handle again. Again, it moved and nausea slammed into me.
Olwen had placed a powerful glamour on the house, all right, which meant I was in the right place.
Gritting my teeth, I pressed on, refusing to give up.
However, after what felt like an hour of trying and failing to fight the glamour, I had to conclude that this was pointless. I couldn’t enter this way. I had to find another method.
Behind the cabin was a forest. No road led to it, and a deadly cliff protected the house at the back. I could not get around the sheer drops on either side of the home to reach the back door, which I assumed wasn’t as heavily bespelled. Even a powerful fae didn’t have unlimited magic and would not use more power than necessary.
The solution would be to fly to the back of the house. I hovered off the front porch, hoping that I could simply go over the roof, but nausea and confusion hit me as soon as I started to drift over it. The sickness sent me crashing back down to the ground and pain erupted all over my body. That would not work, either.
I would have to make the longest flight of my life for a chance to reach Onyx.
Adrenaline pumped through me as my body screamed at me to do it, reminding me that I had managed to levitate for brief spurts before. My mind, however, cautioned me that I wasn’t ready. I needed to prepare before I attempted this feat. If I failed to cross the distance between the cliffs at the back of the property, I would end up mangled on one of the mountains, bleeding out and probably unconscious until the morning sun freed me from my suffering.
So, I went back to Steinberg’s castle. The next night, as soon as I woke, I began practicing my flying in the nearby forest. I practiced for the entire week, first only being able to stay in the air for a minute or two, then five, then ten. At the end of the week, I could hover for over an hour. That had to be enough to clear the cliffs and reach the back of Olwen’s house.
I didn’t see much of Griffin or his new courtesan Virgie that week. They attended a lot of functions and Griffin left me letters with tasks he wanted me to fulfil. It was nothing important. Clearly, he still didn’t trust me fully.
On the seventh day, I ran into Griffin in the hallway. “Have you heard anything about Vulthus and his plans?” he asked
.
“No, sire. I saw him leave his castle in the middle of the day once.”
“He is still sour about Jason freeing his fae. Please work harder at uncovering any information. The only good that has come of his property escaping is that he is now angry at the Wus. They won’t keep their place in the Elites for long.”
“I will continue to spy on him,” I said, suppressing the smile and pride I felt at Onyx outwitting both Wus and Vulthus.
I didn’t tell my sire that I was teaching myself how to fly. There was no need for others to know what I was working on. The Steinberg line was famous for being able to fly, but no vampire had ever mastered the skill before being fifty plus years old. It would be good to have a surprise weapon in my arsenal. It could mean the difference between life and death.
On the eighth day, I was ready. I got in my car, drove toward Olwen’s mansion, and parked at the village nearest to the highway exit I needed. I ran the two miles, then at the bottom of the path, I levitated. Keeping an eye out for any traps, I flew up the steep mountain and across the great divide that led to the back of the cabin, amazed at how easy it felt compared to my practice back at Nocturnal Academy. Jagged rocks and death spread out below, but I wasn’t scared.
Just as my muscles began to tremble with the first signs of exhaustion, I reached the tall pines at the back of the house. My theory about the cabin’s master not wanting to waste glamour on the back grounds was true. I glimpsed an empty cobblestone courtyard surrounded by ice statues. The fortress itself still looked like a cabin.
Needing a break from flying, I lowered to the ground, my body hidden by trees. Another courtyard spread out below me and to my left, surrounded by old targets and dummies. A ginger-beared fae man with a quiver on his back stood at the edge of it. He faced someone in the dirt plaza who fired an ice arrow at a dummy. It hit, spreading ice over the dummy’s chest.
The Nocturnal and Fae Prison Academy Boxset [A Complete Paranormal and Fantasy Series Boxset] Page 45