by Sariah Skye
Maxxus groaned, defeated. “Maybe not. But we can always shoo her away for a while. Pretend we’re not here. Maybe if she hears something going on, she’ll leave.” He snaked his hand around my neck and pulled my face closer to him. He sat upwards partially, catching the soft spot of my neck with his mouth—that spot right behind the ear. Completely involuntarily I shuddered at the sensation, letting out a loud moan.
“You with me then?” he whispered in my ear quietly as he bit at my earlobe.
“Oh my god…” I gasped, feeling the need to clench my legs together tightly or I was going to seriously take him up on the offer. To hell with Kiarra and Finnian.
A rap at the door sounded then. “Uh—guys, whatever you’re doing in there—and it’s loud—might wanna wrap it up, ‘kay? Or I’m coming in to watch.”
“That’s fine, come in!” Maxxus shouted jokingly at her. I smacked his bare chest scoldingly.
“That’s gross!”
He threw back his head and laughed heartily, but released his grip on the quilt, effectively releasing me. Reluctantly, I climbed off his extremely warm, chiseled body, and left him on the bed. I padded across the floor for a set of black robes that were slung across a chair. I grabbed for another pair in an armoire nearby and tossed them to him. “Get dressed, we have to monarch or…something.”
Maxxus groaned. “Must we?”
I turned around and gave him a dirty look. “Hey, I didn’t want to do this. You agreed and talked me into it so—you have no one else to blame but yourself.”
He sighed heavily. “Okay, fine. But, we Bonded and we’re having fun with that, right?”
My face softened. “Well…yes. But…who’s to say once we got our memories back we wouldn’t have done this right away, anyway?”
“Do you think we would have?” he mused aloud.
I shrugged. “Did you want to?”
“I never wanted anything else, Leo,” he said solemnly, wrapping the robes around himself and fastened them up his front.
“Seriously, guys—are you decent yet? I really don’t actually want to see anything you know,” Kiarra called from the other side of the door.
“Thank god!” I replied, snickering.
I heard her sigh. “Fine. Keep Finnian waiting. There is news.”
“Five minutes, please!” I called exchanging an urgent look with Maxxus.
I grumbled under my breath, perturbed that I didn’t have more time to spend alone with Maxxus before we had to be on, pretending to be regal. But, without time to shower, we had enough time to barely make ourselves presentable by getting dressed, brushing teeth, and running combs through our hair.
Maxxus barely remembered to put on underwear and pants under his robes and opted for a pair of flip-flops that he said he sometimes used to shower with when he lived in the barracks. I didn’t want to think about why they were necessary. Dirty dragon feet? Yuck! I insisted on the pants, at least, telling him no one else was seeing that view anymore but me, and he relented. He wasn’t happy about it though; claiming it was “Way too early for pants…”
I managed to find a sports bra, a black tank, and a pair of blue yoga pants. I shoved my feet into flip flops myself and we made our way to the throne room.
As we followed Kiarra to the throne room, I noticed how much it had been cleaned up. “Wow, everyone’s working really hard to get this place back to what it was before, huh?” Half the torches were lit today and the tapestries re-hung. The portraits of past monarchs in the hallways were restored mostly and re-hung properly; and I noticed an empty spot at the end of the long hallway before the throne room with an empty gold frame.
“That’s where yours is supposed to go,” Kiarra said, leaning against the wall, tossing her perfectly-coifed black ponytail over her shoulder. Her chocolate skin was immaculate; makeup perfect and tastefully done.
I groaned at the idea. “How did you get ready so fast?” I grumbled upon seeing her composed appearance.
She grinned through pink-glossed lips. “Well, for one I’m not distracted by honeymooning with a tall, hot dragon,” she winked at both Maxxus and I in turn. “But we’ve been bringing in Esmé and Finnian with potions and wards, ‘scrubbing’ this place down. Since the Shadows have left, it’s little more than residue now. The Court and the maintenance staff have been working overtime to fix what has been broken by Shadow.”
Maxxus nodded with approval. “Make sure you give them our appreciation.”
Kiarra smiled. “I will.”
We reached the grand doors of the throne room. Kiarra touched a golden plate with her hand and the tumblers clicked. Maxxus gestured with his hand, opening them up. A heavy wooden table had been set up in front of the dais, with a handful of chairs around it.
I gasped when I saw what had been so urgent.
“The mage,” Maxxus whispered, both in disgruntled and surprised awe.
Link and Daniel both had both his arms pinned to his back, and Gabriel was walking around him slowly, chanting quietly and summoning magic while tossing it at the floor.
Finnian was standing nearby, wearing torn jeans, dirty sneakers and a hooded sweatshirt. Very unusual attire for him. It was obvious his morning had been eventful. His eyes blazed a bright red and the cheeks upon his sharp cheekbones were nearly as reddened. His arms crossed over his chest and he glowered at the mage.
Not wanting to interrupt whatever they were doing, Maxxus and I quietly approached the Loremaster. I touched his arm gently and spoke his name.
He startled briefly before noticing it was me; his eyes flipping to a lighter shade of pink. “Oh, Leorah—your majesty—I’m sorry I was just—”
I cut him off with a motion of my hand “No need to explain, Finn. So do you think he did it?”
He shrugged. “We’re about to find out.”
“How?”
He cocked a severe eyebrow at me.
“Me?”
“That is the hope. I tried reading him, but he is clearly Shadowtouched; they aren’t letting me get a read on his mind,” Finnian replied dryly.
“What can I do?” I asked uncertainly.
“Use your magic to repel the Shadows and either compel him to tell the truth, or once the Shadow block is removed hopefully I will be able to read him,” Finnian said.
Maxxus placed his hands on my shoulders and grasped. “Is it safe for her? You haven’t let her heal in the past because of the Shadows.” I swallowed nervously, recalling the dream I just had a short while ago. Perhaps they were right after all…
“Daniel will act as conduit,” Finnian replied.
“What? No!” I protested, shaking my head.
“I’m immune to the Shadowfuckers, remember!?” he called to me. “We didn’t know that before, but now we do!”
I grumbled. “Great. Well fine then, what am I supposed to do?”
Gabriel tossed one more ball of light magic at the mage and scowled; getting into the mage’s face with a gesture that clearly said, “Come at me!”
Connor Styles, Castle Danger’s only and resident mage grinned widely at the sorcerer; cackling with a hint of insanity at him.
“Now who’s laughing?” Gabriel challenged, tossing two small handfuls of electric magic at the bare feet of the mage, and a purple shield hissed and encumbered the area around him. Link and Daniel barely managed to pull away before the shield shocked them.
Connor’s face fell, only for a moment before he noticed his hands were free. His hands flew up in a flash as some sort of black gooey magic shot out from his hands, and hit the shield before fizzling out and dissolving into nothing. Gabriel smirked with self-satisfaction watching the powerful mage immobilized.
“You better do something, Leo dear, before my brother kills him,” Daniel said. Scarily enough, I think he was serious.
“What do I do?” I squeaked my question nervously, watching the mage. He seemed to convulse slightly under Gabriel’s powerful magic.
Daniel motioned for me to step forward, and I did. He pu
t himself in between the mage and myself. He glared at his brother severely. “Come on, bro. Give us a chance here,”
Reluctantly, Gabriel dropped his magic. He took a few steps back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Fine, but one false move—” for emphasis he summoned a particularly nasty plasma ball in one of his palms, bouncing it in the air like a rubber ball as he stared with menace at the mage.
“Thank you,” I said to him, with a smile. Gabriel hesitated, but grinned widely at me.
I stepped nearer to Daniel who clutched me by the hand. “Basically, what you’re going to do, summon your dragon magic and shoot it at me. Since I’m not Shadowtouched, it will bounce off me—we think—and just pour right into him. Don’t go easy on me; you can’t hurt me with it.”
I nodded slowly. “Okay.” I held my palms out and took a deep breath. I felt the spot near my heart warm slightly. I urged it to increase.
“It’s…not working?” I said, after a few moments.
I felt two hands on either side of my waist. “Try it now, darling,” Maxxus whispered softly into my ear. “Perhaps you’re just nervous about the dream.”
That must be it. Feeling his strong presence, I closed my eyes again and called for my magic. The telltale spot in my chest warmed rapidly. I felt my shoulder blades tingle as my wings struggled to get free of their constraints. Someone—I assumed Maxxus—removed my robes and the wings shot free, trailing down my sides briefly before stretching out like a regal bird.
I inhaled deeply, calling for all the warmth and light I had. The entirety of my body began to tingle, gently at first, but the sensation grew until it felt as if I were standing outside on the beach on a hot day, sun burning my skin.
“Now, Leo!” someone called behind me; I couldn’t tell who because I was too busy concentrating.
With a wave of my hands and arms I made a wide gesture, and shot the magic in front of me. My eyes flew open as I felt the power escape me, and pour into Daniel. The air around us sparkled and shimmered with fine glitter mist.
My fingers still tingled as I held the magic out, continuing to push it into Daniel. He appeared no worse for the wear, but his blue eyes were now rimmed with a bright fire; swirls of sparkling spirit magic swirled around him.
“Are you okay?” I asked him, with concern. His face was generally expressionless. He blinked his eyes slowly, and when he opened them again, the corners of his mouth turned upward in a trademark O’Donnell brother smirk. He spun around on his heels, and with a deft ninja move he spun all the magic I poured into him and slammed it into the mage.
Connor shrieked in terror as the light magic crashed with the Shadow magic inside him. His head flew back as the darkness poured out of him like a deluge. The tendrils that inhabited him writhed and screamed as they fell to the ground, quickly darting around for a new host.
Gabriel summoned a cracking light orb in his palm and proceeded to shoot it at the nearest Shadow tendril. “You can help me with this, Leo!” he insisted.
Opening up both palms, I produced my own light magic. The orbs crackled and hissed with electricity as I tossed them to Gabriel; who put his own spin on them and tossed them at the ground near the mage.
“Finn, he’s mostly clear now!” Daniel called out, speaking to the Loremaster, who nodded.
“You’re on Leo. Blast him again directly!” he instructed.
The mage’s eyes flicked open and he looked at me pleadingly. He fell to his knees and tried to bring his hands in front of him, but they were magically bound. “Please—please don’t! It wasn’t my fault!”
I raised a brow at him. “That’s really too bad. Because this might hurt!” I thrust out my arms and wings and pulled more power inside me. I felt my body charge and I shoved more magic into him.
“Arrrrrrrrrrrr-ggggggggggggh!” Connor screamed in pain as the light magic encumbered him. “Please! Enough!” Tears streamed down his cheeks, and I let my arms fall. I turned and looked over my shoulder at Finnian.
“Is this supposed to hurt so bad? It’s light magic! It should be making him feel good!” I recalled that time a couple weeks ago now, where we’d used his assistance to free Kit from the Shadow realm; he’d received a massive dose of Gabriel’s healing magic. In the infirmary as he healed, he had been acting slightly drunk.
“Well, Leo, he was either faking that day—” Finnian began, obviously reading my mind, “—or the Shadow influence is greater than we thought.”
Connor continued to cry out. “Please, it hurts—stop!”
“I can’t continue this, I’m not a torturer,” I said, stepping backwards.
“Oh, allow me then.” A menacing look washed over Gabriel’s face. He flicked his hand open and produced a large plasma ball.
Connor winced, seeing the magic. “Please, man—I didn’t mean…”
Finnian pushed past me and reached out to touch Connor’s cheek. He cried out in pain as Finnian’s eyes went white as the Loremaster tried to read his mind.
“Ack! Finn, that’s excruciating! Please stop!”
Gabriel snickered, with a roll of his eyes as he bounced the plasma ball in his palms tauntingly. “Good!”
I shot Gabriel a dirty look. “Come on, this isn’t you.”
“It’s been a rough few days, Leo,” he insisted. I frowned, as I felt that barb stab me directly through the heart.
Finnian’s eyes flashed back to normal and Connor finally relaxed. “Best as I can tell, it wasn’t intentional, but he was being used, somehow.”
“Wait—” Gabriel diffused the magic in his hands and stepped forward. He held his palm in front of him and looked intrigued. “Spirit magic?”
“Cyril?” Kiarra, who’d been mostly silent through the ordeal, piped up.
Finnian nodded. “It’s definitely spirit magic. Pink magic. But how? We would have noticed Cyril in Castle Danger before the attack—we didn’t see anything resembling him at all as we fought.”
“Tell us!” Gabriel demanded, getting into the mage’s face. Connor winced at his proximity—and at the orb of scalding fire magic Gabriel had called in his hand.
“I don’t know, I swear! I helped you guys get over to the dragon realm and shortly after the portal shut, I was knocked out! The next thing I remember, I was here! I swear!” Connor insisted in a panic.
Gabriel scowled. “Liar!” The sorcerer let the magic fly, right into Connor’s shoulder.
He cried out in terror, crumbling to the ground.
“Gabriel!” I scolded, rushing to the mage, my hands summoning up the healing magic.
Daniel shot out his arm, blocking me. “He’s lying, Leo.”
“Lying?”
“Use your magic, see that I’m right. His colors are flashing which means he’s conflicted. Normally his aura is blue. Right now, it’s flashing between gray and yellow. Something isn’t right,” Daniel spoke.
“Compel him.” Finnian instructed.
I called for my magic again, this time keeping my eyes open and staring him intently in the face. Tell us the truth about the portal.
Connor winced and struggled. He convulsed under the magic.
Tell us the truth.
Connor cried out. “It was Cyril! But…not. He cannot leave the realm right now so he used someone else. I don’t remember his name!! They made me tear a hole where the portal was, and use magic to leave it open. After that, I remember nothing! I swear!”
I let the magic drop and Connor breathed a sigh of relief. He crumbled to the ground.
“I believe he’s telling the truth,” I said, looking earnestly at Finnian. “He did it, but he was controlled by someone else. Who, he doesn’t know. His memories are muddied and they cannot be accessed.”
Finnian stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Well, we’ll have to hold him until he can remember. Leo, do you have an adequate facility for him? Guards?”
I turned to Maxxus who was privier to the Guard situation. “Do we have enough to guard him?”
“I’ll cal
l Braeden,” Kiarra said. She stepped to the other side of the room, pulling out her phone from the front of her robes. She spoke in hushed tones.
“We can hold him in the Anarach dungeon chambers. I will need assistance to get him there, though.” Maxxus turned to Gabriel and Daniel. “I will need your help, it’s not very far.”
Daniel and Gabriel both nodded.
“Leo, can you put up a shield over him for now?” Gabriel asked, and I nodded. With little effort, I spun a binding shield over him.
“We will take him to the dungeon. Gabriel, magic at the ready, please,” Maxxus instructed.
“On it!” Gabriel summoned one ball of fire in one hand, and a plasma ball in the other. Connor continued to cringe, grabbing his shoulder as Maxxus and Daniel lifted him to his feet. The shield wouldn’t encumber them, but Connor only from disappearing or using his own magic to summon a portal.
“I will deal with this and see you in a bit.” Maxxus winked at me and pulled the struggling mage out of the throne room. Kiarra instructed them that Braeden would meet them there, with a handful of guards that were well enough to stand watch.
“Make sure he gets healed!” I called after them, still recalling the smell of singed flesh in my nose. “Blecch…” I said to myself, with a quick shudder.
Finnian, Kiarra, Link and I were left behind.
“Well, that was fun,” I said sarcastically, my words cutting through the uncomfortable tension left in the room.
Link chuckled. “Yeah, good times. Having to torture a friend. Always a dream come true,” he said ruefully.
I frowned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
Link waved me off. “It’s okay.”
“Did you get a chance to talk to the Court about the other kingdoms?” Finnian inquired, raking his hands over his face and through his hair. When he pulled his hands away he looked renewed, refreshed. More of that Loremaster magic, I assumed. Or maybe demon?
I nodded. “I did. It went about as well as planned.”
“Actually, messages have already started coming back from Dreka and the Northlands. Both are sending representatives at the end of the week to meet with us,” Kiarra interjected.